Arrival!

Arrival!

After a long day on an airplane – and after getting lost because the Neverlost on the rental car never worked – is there a more welcome sight than your hotel? It’s such a huge relief to hand the car to the valet and your luggage to the bellman. And the lobby of this hotel – the Market Pavilion in Charleston – did not disappoint. All dark, carved wood, beveled glass, and rich floral brocades on deep, high-backed chairs. My kind of place. When the elevator doors opened on our floor, we were greeted with an antique sideboard stocked with silver urns of after-dinner coffee. In the morning, these urns were replenished and joined by a continental breakfast. Off to a good start.

Our room was a delight. Furnished in similar traditional fashion, we found big fluffy robes laid out on the bed and his-and-hers monogramed slippers waiting bedside on clean linen cloths.

Ahhhhh. And each room had its own lighted, filigree-bedecked doorbell – whatever for?? Did people “come calling” on you in your hotel room in bygone days? This was the perfect basecamp for two avid sight-seers.