Savannah Pictures

We are safely back home in Norway--wow, the freezing temperature as we landed in Oslo was quite a change from balmy Savannah! Here are a few pictures from our little vacation--it was so nice to get away for a little while and spend some time together! The top photo is "The Waving Girl" statue (Savannah's answer to Copenhagen's "Little Mermaid"). Florence Martus lived out on Tybee Island with her brother and would wave at every ship that came in until her death in 1943. Kevin and I were excited to see the loyal collie by her side--it made us miss Kermit, and also feel very thankful that he and Honey were safe in a kennel, and not wreaking havoc in our kitchen!
The next photo is of this wacky street performer on River St. He was wearing a white suit and matching white sombrero, pounding on a drum while singing about hula hoops. He brought several hula hoops with him and encouraged the audience to dance along. His lyrics basically consisted of "Hula Hoop, Hula Hoop, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock" repeated over and over. Whenever someone had trouble keeping the hula hoop around their waist, he would offer the sage advice of, "Shake it like you've got peanut butter on your belly!" Kevin and I found the performance highly entertaining, and sang the hula hoop song the rest of the evening. (I don't know if the beverages consumed later during our haunted pub crawl contributed to our incessant singing or not!)
The third photo is of one of the many squares in Savannah. The town was designed to be similar to London, with gorgeous, green, public squares every couple of blocks. This particular square was all decorated for Christmas--even though the weather was in the 70's during our visit, there were so many gorgeous holiday decorations around that it felt really festive. Our beautiful hotel had a huge tree in the lobby and greenery and ribbons around all the fireplaces--this was a really magical time to visit!
The final photo is of a path lined by huge live oaks, dripping in Spanish moss. The gnarled, twisted branches of the trees and the ghostly moss made everything very moody and atmospheric. Our pub crawl tour guide told us some crucial information about Spanish moss--when it falls to the ground, chiggers immediately move into it. One day, he saw a "Yankee" woman gathering up armfuls of the stuff and loading it in the trunk of her car. He tried to warn her, but she tartly replied, "I'm not worried, we have bugs in Connecticut too." He didn't push the issue, just laughed to himself about the very itchy ride home she was about to experience! I laughed along with the story, but was secretly so relieved that I hadn't scooped any up and stuffed it into my suitcase--the thought had crossed my mind earlier! Oh well, at least I captured a few photos of the beautiful plant on my camera!
Anyway, the trip was fantastic and I have lots more photos to post later. It is good to be back home--the animals were very excited about our return and all the treats from PetSmart which we hauled back. I had a meeting with my Norwegian for Foreigners advisor today and classes start on Friday. For the next several months, I'll be in class from 9-11:30 every day--I hope eventually I get past this babbling, pointing and miming phase of communication! Kevin is at work during the classes, so I'll try to pass what I've learned on to him. (Or I could just make up crazy things for him to say and see if he repeats them at work the next day!)