Charleston is a great city!  If you haven't visited - plan a trip.  Prepare to eat well and enjoy the history.  They call it the Holy City because there are over 700 churches.  We have spent our time on the peninsula which is the downtown area.  Greg commented there are more great restaurants than Boston and the population is a fraction of same.   Boston's population is 650,000 compared with 130,000 in Charleston.  Lowell, MA has 108,000. Can you imagine 700 churches in Lowell - or Boston?

Our first couple days here were warm and sunny.  The third was freezing cold - 43 degrees, rain and wind at 20-25 knots with gusts to 35.  Sharon was even starting to wish she had actual shoes and if you know her, you know it takes a lot for her to give up her flip-flops!  Gave us a good excuse to hit the West Marine and Harris Teeter (a really nice grocery) and stock up on stuff we needed.  We are happy to be at a marina where we can "plug-in" and have heat.  An interesting consequence though is the heavy condensation on every porthole and hatch.  We are realizing how tough it would be to live aboard through a winter in New England.  Every once in a while, a cold drip would hit Sharon's head during the night, as she sleeps right under a porthole.  Yuk!

Day Three in Charleston

There is a courtesy shuttle provided by the marina that will take you pretty much anywhere you need to go.  The drivers tend to be locals and provide you with all kinds of cool information about the city. When asking about where to eat, we were told we needed to be certain to have "shrimp and grits" and then a variety of options were presented.  Sharon wrinkled her nose a bit because in her mind, grits are nothing to write home about - while Greg loves them!  We had lunch at the "Lowcountry Bistro" and shared an appetizer of their rendition of shrimp and grits - OMG!  First of all, the grits were made with butter and cheese - changes the whole landscape of grits!  Mixed in with the grits was a spicy tomato sauce which the shrimp has obviously been cooked in.  A sensation in the mouth!  So good.  Then, last night at "Coast", we shared a dinner of shrimp and grits and that flavor was more like a good New Orleans gumbo, strong with the undertones of the file' powder that is the base of good gumbo.

Coast Bar and Grill entrance and inside below

We need these lights at our beach house!

Our wedding anniversary was Thursday and we enjoyed a special meal at "Peninsula Grill."  A very nice restaurant adjacent to Plantation Inn, a Relais and Chateaux hotel.  There Sharon had a delightful meal of red grouper and lobster and Greg loved his scallops and grits.  But the piece de resistance was the Coconut Cake, which apparently lost the Bobby Flay throw down some years ago; hard to imagine as it was really good - creamy icing, five layers of moist cake, dredged in toasted coconut flakes.  Wow!

Cypress is one of three restaurants owned and managed by the local Hospitality Management Group.  It was beautifully appointed and very comfortable.  Sharon enjoyed a chicken and dumplings special - flavored exquisitely, and Greg had duo of pork - a home made kielbasa that exploded with flavors in your mouth and a thin slice of breaded pork laid over sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.  They butcher and create all their meats there and have apparently opened a deli where you can buy them, or get sandwiches made from them.  Yum!

Interior of Cypress and Wine Cellar - two stories high!

Needless to say - we are doing our best to eat our way through Charleston's best restaurants!

The bartender at Coast had great information about the Charleston Beer Works which is a "Patriots Pub".  He and his three college roommates from Massachusetts used to hang out there to watch the games.  Guess where we are headed today at 4:30?!