I've included the day number in the title here just to highlight how far behind I am on these posts. This covers the 20th and 21st of July. I write this from a hostel in Montreal, which at this rate you'll be able to read about some time next year...

A lot of people sounded surprised to hear that we planned to visit Montgomery. The main draw was because of the city's role in the Black Civil Rights movement, something that we had learnt about at school and/or university. I guess it's not a huge tourist hotspot but that didn't bother us. The city is famous for (among other things) the Montgomery Bus Boycott which kickstarted the Civil Rights movement.

We drove up from our campsite on the coast and arrived at a campsite built and run by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and a short drive from the city. At $15 it was one of the cheapest sites we had stayed at and had good facilities with air conditioned bathrooms and hot showers. There was even laundry facilities! The camping area was among forest on the edge of a lake. We imagined ourselves swimming until we found out that there were alligators in there. The camp host also told us that there were snakes in the forest and that he had killed a nasty rattlesnake just a few days earlier. We arrived on a Monday and almost had the entire campground to ourselves.

We set up camp in record time and then got straight back on the road toward downtown Montgomery. As we exited a freeway I had my first and only time driving on the wrong side of the road. In my defence the road was very confusing and I don't think I had forgotten which side to drive on, rather I was just confused by the road layout exiting a one way road. We parked up just across from the Alabama Capitol building, next to the carpark reserved for the Secretary of State.

Downtown Montgomery has a quite a grand and civic feel to it. There are classical government buildings in all directions, and the roads are wide and straight. We visited the Alabama Department of Archives and History (a free and interesting museum) and the Capitol Building (no longer in use; they moved next door into a larger and far less impressive building). We also visited the first Confederate White House, home of Jefferson Davis and his family for a short time. It was incredibly hot and humid and we could only stand to be outside for so long.

The first Confederate White House

For dinner we went to Martin's Restaurant, a place famous for their fried chicken. The food was pretty good although super greasy. I'm not a huge fan of fried chicken so I struggled a bit. I had plenty of corn bread and biscuit (the southern kind) though and left feeling pretty full. The girls took their leftovers to have for breakfast the next day...

After dinner we returned back downtown for a public movie screening by the riverfront. We still had a bit of time before the movie started and went looking for gas station or convenience store selling cold drinks (it was still uncomfortably hot). We soon realised that there are in fact no shops whatsoever in Montgomery, and learnt that no one in town needs to buy gas after 6pm. Seriously, in the heart of downtown we were going to have to walk for 15 minutes or more just to find a convenience store. It was weird. The movie was popular and fairly entertaining. It was nice to be outside as the air finally cooled enough to be somewhat bearable.

We rose early the next morning, packed up camp, and returned to town to visit the Civil Rights Memorial. This is both a memorial and museum dedicated to some of those who died during the struggle. It was pretty sad to learn of just how far some people went to prevent racial equality, and how so many young people died either for the colour of their skin, or the beliefs for which they stood. The museum is located just a block from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr was a minister.

Civil Rights Memorial

Alabama Supreme Court

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

I really liked Montgomery (although we really only saw downtown). It was clean and spacious and somehow rather grand. At the same time there was a severe lack of life in the city. The roads were wide with hardly any traffic. The footpaths were almost always empty at all hours of the day. Buildings did not have shops on the street level like in a normal city. There was nowhere to get a coffee in the morning. It seemed that we had stumbled across the fabled American downtown where everybody arrives at 9am (by car), spends the day at work, and then leaves at 5pm. There was no life to the city at all.

Empty footpaths

In all directions

Where is everybody?

Next post will be Savannah, Georgia.