The Savannah Apartment-Week One

I arrived in Savannah, GA, on Tuesday March 1, after a 700-mile trip from Stow that I stretched into two days. I arrived in mid-afternoon and followed directions for parking and getting the key to the AirBnB rental I have booked for about five weeks. The studio apartment is in an eight-story brick building that is about 100 years old and located in Savannah’s historic district. 

I picked the unit because of its location within walking distance of the historic sites and attractive parks that dot this part of town. The closest park is Chippewa Square which features a statue of George Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony. It was the location in the film “Forrest Gump” where Gump sat on a park bench and said the film’s most iconic line: “Life is like a box of chocolates…” So many tourists wanted to take pictures at that bench that traffic was impeded and the city eventually removed the bench and placed it in a museum. 

Another feature I like is that there is a decent size balcony that has a great view of downtown Savannah and the historic district. However, some of the view is blocked by a 12-story apartment building that is directly across the street. This newer, modern-looking structure is made of gray stone with large glass windows and it seems architecturally inconsistent with rest of the 18th and 19th century structures in the area.

I am not a voyeur, but the large windows provide a good view inside some of the apartments, especially at night. I haven’t seen any crimes or murders a’la Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window”, but some residents—the majority of them female— might be more careful about what they do or wear while in front of these large windows. Just saying…

So far, I’ve just been getting settled into the apartment and getting to know the surrounding area. The streets are lined with large oak trees with lots of Spanish moss hanging from the limbs. It is still early spring, but I’ve seen some pink azaleas blooming on the boulevards. 

On Wednesday, I decided to get a good brunch and I wound up at the Collins Corner Cafe. I had a delicious meal of sausage gravy over poached eggs and biscuits, chicken sausage links and fennel slaw. From my table on the sidewalk, I could observe the horse-drawn carriages and tour busses going by as well as multitudes of tourists on foot. It was a very pleasant, sunny day and a wonderful experience. When it came time to pay my check, I told my waiter to notice the last name on my credit card, and he asked me if he could get a raise. Couldn’t give him a raise, but I did give him a nice tip. 

Then I had nice walk back to my apartment and spent the sunny and warm afternoon on the balcony reading a book that Pam had bought and recommended. It’s called “Spymistress” by William Stevenson and chronicles the tale of Vera Atkins who was one of Great Britain’s most prominent spies before and during World War II. One of her colleagues in the British intelligence system was Ian Fleming who said Atkins was an inspiration for his character James Bond. Fleming later recounted that when he was at a dinner with Atkins, she ordered a Martini with Booth Gin, very little Vermouth, a twist of lime and wanted it “...shaken, not stirred.”

After two warm sunny days, I thought about going to the beach on Friday. However, the weather turned considerably cooler and it was cloudy so I found a nearby coffee shop and read and did some people watching. March is a very big tourism month here as the spring-like weather attracts large numbers of “snowbird” tourists. Most of the visitors I saw were couples in their 40s and up and a surprising number of groups of only women. 

The major event in March in Savannah is the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade which draws tens of thousands of visitors and is billed as one of the largest in the country. Later in the month, there is a significant home and garden tour in the historic district that draws thousands of visitors. It wasn’t held in both 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic, but the website said the tour will be back on this year.

My last two sabbaticals in El Paso and Las Vegas were in the dry, desert-like southwest. The low country of the southeast coast couldn’t be more different. So I plan to share more experiences in my next blog, so stay tuned.