Driving with Miss Diva

Monday, January 16, 2012

SAVANNAH, GA – When I called the Old Town Trolley company to find out how to take one of their tours today, the person at the other end told me we’d have to wait till at least noon to get on a trolley because of the parade. Parade? Of course, today is the Martin Luther King Jr. civic holiday, and Savannah loves a parade!
Fortunately, we were able to get downtown with no street closure problem, and there were plenty of (free) spaces at the tour headquarters. As we got out of the car, we could hear the crash of cymbals and blaring horns from a marching band just a short walk from where we were.
It was sunny and about 15 degrees, so there was no rain on this parade, but we crossed to the shaded side of the street for a better view. There were plenty of spectators, but also plenty of space to stand and watch. We were a visible minority of two standing among and watching literally hundreds of African Americans! School groups, church groups by the dozen, cadets, girl scouts and commercial enterprises filed by on floats decorated with streamers and tinsel and pictures of “MLK” and slogans such as “Keep the Dream Alive”, “Free at Last” and “Dr. King’s light shines through us”. “Happy King Day!” shouted the people on the floats, many of whom had perfected the royal wave as they passed by.
We started watching at about 10:30 in the morning, and by noon we were hungry and wanted to sit down for a while, so we went off for a lunch of fried catfish and collard greens at the Whistlestop Café. The parade was still under way when we came out, so we watched till 12:45 as still more filed past. Finally, participant #200-something brought up the rear, and we could begin our tour.
The trolley provided a hop-on, hop-off service throughout the historic sector, but we decided to stay on board for the full 15-stop tour. One big reason (about 300 pounds big) was our gregarious driver, Diva (“that stands for Danielle Is Very Attractive!”), who flashed a gold front tooth among her pearly whites, and joked her way through the many interesting sights. We saw gracious Georgian homes decorated with wrought iron railings, as well as a network of town squares honouring early heroes with statues and fountains and planted with lawns and tall trees dripping with Spanish moss.
We saw the waterfront and learned the sad tale of Florence Martus, who between 1887 and 1931 went out and waved a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night at every ship that came into the harbour as she waited for the return of the sailor who had promised to marry her. He never did come back, but her memory is preserved by a statue of “the Waving Girl”, erected in 1972.
It was clear we would have to come back to Savannah to see more and learn more about its fascinating history. There are only so many hours in a day, and we wanted to visit the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum which is actually in our hotel’s back yard. It’s a very large complex dedicated to the men and women of “the greatest air armada the world had ever seen – the Eighth Air Force”, based out of Savannah. We spent an interesting hour looking at WW2 memorabilia, a full-sized B-17 Flying Fortress, and a lovely memorial garden and chapel, plus an exhibit dedicated to the “Fly Girls” of the era. It was quite a full day!