Savannah's St John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral: 10 '18

Yesterday's tour guide had told us that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is one of the most awe-inspiring buildings in all of historic Savannah Georgia. It is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Savannah.   And to see it, we should get there early,  so it was our first priority of the day. 

The colonial charter of Savannah prohibited Roman Catholics from settling in the city. The English trustees feared that Catholics would be more loyal to the Spanish authorities in Florida than to the English government in Georgia, however, this prohibition faded shortly after the American Revolution. The church's congregation was reorganized about 1796. French Catholic émigrés established the first church in 1799 after they fled Haiti after slave rebellions that began on the Caribbean island in 1791. It became the main church for free blacks from Haiti in the early 19th century. Construction began on the new Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in 1873 and was completed with the addition of the spires in 1896. The structure was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898 but through diligent effort was rebuilt by 1899

St John the Baptist's Cathedral

The building is an excellent example of French Gothic architecture. Outside The 28,000-square-foot cathedral, featuring steeples rising 207 feet in the air.

The interior is even more stunning.

My (CC's)  first reaction was that I had been teleported back in time to the St Agnes Catholic Church ( Los Angeles) which I had attended as a child.   It was not just the gothic architecture,

Rear Nave and Baptismal font

High Alter and Apse

or the spectacular alters,

Side Alter

But  the  starry skies, 

and 

murals on the ceiling

and spectacularly stained glass windows with more instructive murals

Window and decorative murals of the South transept

and the stations of the cross lining each side of the church walls,  

which were hand-carved in the 1800s,

They were hand -painted  

and incredibly-detailed 

It was  all so familiar, I had an almost instant sense of belonging. That feeling was short lived . While Bruce was offering a monetary donation to their coffers, an elderly man approached me and where I was from... I explained and told him I was now living in SC but that I had lived my early childhood in LA; I also told him how amazed I was by how much this beautiful church in Savannah GA resembled to one of my youth. The guy launched into a diatribe about how he couldn't understand how people in California, Oregon and Washington could think the way they do. When I ignored that bait, he said they were 'all crazies' and they should all leave. About then Bruce ( who is never one to back down from an argument) jumped in demanding to know if he meant he the guy would really be happy to see the entire west coast lost to the US. 'Yes', he reaffirmed, 'they are all crazies'.  So much for feeling like I had come home. Needless to say, I did not stick around for the guided tour. I walked out of there more convinced than ever that I had made the right decision in leaving the Catholic Church

That being said Savannah's St John the Baptist Cathedral has one of the richest and culturally diverse histories of any in this country

If you only have a short time in Savannah make sure that you make your way over to this Cathedral. As long as you do not mention you are from anywhere on the west coast, you won't regret it. It is a beautiful French Gothic cathedral, certainly one of the most amazing cathedrals in the south.

Savannah's Temple Mickve Israel: 10 '18

On yesterday's trolley tour, our guide pointed out both Savannah's Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, and the Congregation Mickve Israel, and recommended we tour both. Whenever we visit a new town, Bruce and I usually look up both the local Catholic and  Jewish congregations' places of worship.  It gives us a sense of commonality with the local community.  So it was a no-brainer that we would put these two buildings on our must-see list. Knowing how difficult parking spaces are to find, we got up at first light so we could beat the crowds. First stop: Temple Mickve Israel.  Perhaps we were a little too proactive.  The building doesn't open to the public before 10 am.

.

But the signage was enough to convince us we wanted to come back as soon the doors opened.  In sum, it told us that the Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia, is one of the oldest in the United States, as it was organized in 1735 by mostly Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish-Portuguese extraction from London who arrived in the new colony in 1733. They consecrated their current synagogue, located on Monterey Square in historic Savannah, in 1878. It is a rare example of a Gothic-style synagogue. The synagogue building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today, the synagogue is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Come 10 o'clock, we were back. This time to take the full tour. Built in Neo-Gothic style that echoes the elaborate architecture of the Victorian period--it is the only synagogue in the United States like it. While a lot simpler in decor than it's Catholic counterpart, the Congregation of Mickve Israel Temple is every bit as rich in history.

The Mickve Israel Temple tour was one of the highlights of our long weekend in Savannah!  Our guide was extraordinarily knowledgeable welcoming.  The tour included:

The Mitzvah

The Baroque style architecture 
and organ were highly progressive enhancements.

as were the beautiful stained glass windows.

The arc contains multiple Torahs including a Holocaust Torah from Poland.

After visiting the main temple, we toured 

the congregation's museum.

It was filled with the artifacts both religious

Deerskin Torahs 

 and secular items detailing all the people, places and events the Congregations members have impacted.

Letters from George Washington and every US President since are on the wall.

All about the Historic Savannah Theater; 10 18

The Savanah Theater facade

Our next stop was to verify the location and directions of The Savannah Theatre where we would be returning to watch a musical revue in the evening.   The Theater is celebrating its 200^th anniversary having opened its doors in 1818. It is one of the country's oldest operating. The theatre has undergone different face-lifts, including a transition to its current Art Deco style as a result of the 1948 fire and has served as both a movie theatre and a live performance venue. This gorgeous and historic theatre rests in the heart of the Savannah Chippewa Square Historic District.

 

Once we saw the place we were all in.

Just a few of the stars that have performed at the Savannah Theatre include Oscar Wilde, Lillian Russell, Otis Skinner, Sarah Bernhardt, and W.C. Fields, among others. Edwin Booth, the brother of the infamous assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, was also a performer that worked this wonderful theatre. Booth performed a range of Shakespearean roles such as 'Hamlet,' 'Iago,' and 'King Lear.' One of the most notable performances to have taken place in the Historic Savannah Theatre was baseball star Ty Cobb in his role of 'The College Widow' in 1911. Located in the theatre lobby are several newspaper articles, artifacts, and photographs on display to detail the illustrious history of the theatre and how it came to be the beautiful building we see today! 

 But Bruce seemed more impressed  that the Theater was located near Hull Street than any of the historical architecture .

We returned that evening  

to see the limited engagement Piano Men show starring three very talented pianists:  Charles, Sterling, and Bobby. 

Add in singers Matthew & Michelle Meece plus Josh Holley on guitar with his great moves, Danielle Walker on the Sax, Chris Fullerton on drums and our night was made. 

.

The show was excellent. Wonderful music, and the pianists were incredible. Loved the music of  Elton John, 

 Louis Armstrong / Ella  Fitzgerald,

 Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Carol King,and many more. The singers did a great job. Fun and entertainingThey had us laughing and cheering and singing along throughout the entire show.

Savannah = Good eats: 10 '18

One can't go to Savannah without having a meal within a historic building .. Possibly because every building in the city is historic.  All humor aside, the choices are mind-boggling and every one of them so tempting.  We finally settled on lunch in a market district cafe.  Soooo good, but I am sure we could have said the same about almost every other eatery in Savannah.  It really is paradise for foodies. 

First stop in Savannah, the Telefair Museum: 10 '18

Bruce enjoyed posing with Shakespeare 
at the entrance to The Telfair Academy 

 The Telfair Academy contains three nineteenth-century period rooms and houses nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and European art from the museum’s permanent collection including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and decorative arts.

Henri Matisse's  'The Palace, Belle Ile'  c. 18 96

But what we had really stopped here for was to see the French impressionist Exhibition Monet to Matisse at the Jepson Gallery.  The exhibit contained thirty early works by Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse.

Marc Chagall's  'The Dreamer'  c. 1945

We have seen far finer works by all of these artists, but it was instructive ( and reassuring to see that even the best-known artists in the world had to study and practice and their craft before they developed their own style and achieved mastery of their art.

Road trip to Savannah, GA: 10 '18

Bruce and I finally had two full free days off together,

and we wasted no time planning an overnight road trip to nearby Savannah Ga.

Once we got there, the first order of the day, take a trolley tour of the town so we could get an idea of what things we might want to see over and beyond our already packed to-do list.

The trolley tours offer a great way to get around the sprawling congested historic district of downtown Savannah.  Parking is included in the price of the tour, so one can leave one's car on the outskirts of town then hop on and off the trolley all day long from any of 15 different convenient locations all over the historic district.   While on the trolley, the guide gives a great overview of what there is to see and do in the area the trolley is passing through.

Atlanta GA: Aquarium 3 '14

Sunday morning  we woke to rain and temperatures that we 20 degrees cooler than the day before.  Time to look for an indoor activity.  We all decided on the Atlanta Georgia Aquarium.

Polar penguins

This is one of the best aquariums in the country with many specialized exhibits of sea creatures both small  and large

Beluga whales also like frigid waters

Dragon fish seen at a distance

Two of my favorite exhibits were of the tropical dragon fish that look like floating twigs

Dragon Fish close up

and the kelpl forest exhibit because it reminded me of diving off of the Channel Islands, CA

Kelp forest

The aquarium has a lot of nice exhibit features like this glass tunnel

 which allows viewers to get a much closer view of some really big fish like

The manta ray above or the  shovel nose shark below

But the  exhibit which startled  us the most

 were the four fully grown whale sharks

whose size dwarfed even the large rays and sharks in the tank with them.    I didn't know we could keep creatures that large in captivity. At first I didn't believe they were real. 

 

 But they are real, and they are definitely the stars attrations of the aquarium.

We couldn't take our eyes off of them.