Columbia is both the Capital of South Carolina and the county seat, so there are a fair number of column and stone official looking structures scattered about.  A nice assortment of Art Deco buildings are still standing in various neighborhoods, testament to the city’s economic hey-day in the early twentieth century as a textile, mill and transportation hub.  There were also a few buildings that looked decidedly wrought-iron-balconied southern romantic.  Mixed in with all of that, you can find the relics of our own century; big glass and steel buildings.  It sounds awful, but actually it ends up being quite charming.   Quite by accident, I’m sure, all this mixing up of styles sorted itself out into a lovely city.  

We drove down to Columbia from Greenville before Christmas of 2020.  We were trying to see the Christmas decorations in as many towns as possible around Greenville where we were staying.  Columbia was the furthest we had driven; 2 hours there and 2 hours back.  That drive is excruciatingly boring, the same landscape scrolling by mile after mile.  We were sooo happy to get there!  

In the winter of 2020, Covid was still being a menace and Mary and I were practicing a lot of “Drive By Tourism”.  Rather than get out and go in places; stores, museums and restaurants. we drove by them and waved.  Columbia was no exception.  We drove to the far end of town and worked our way back stopping to look at the various neighborhoods, buildings and sights, waving hello and goodby from the car.  We did find a great restaurant with outdoor seating - thank god it was warm - about 1/2 way back to town in a neighborhood called 5 Corners.  We felt safe enough to go in some lovely shops in that area because there was no-one about and the owners had masks on.  Mary bought me a Christmas present on the sly, kind of.  I bought her some Christmas presents downtown which was also quiet enough to feel safe going in the stores. It was all really pleasant.  We made a wide 1/2 circle to the west and one to the east to capture the layout of the land and to see the University of South Carolina Campus.  

Mary loves to see how much it would cost to live in the places we visit so she got busy with Zillow.  So busy I had to remind her we had to drive home later and maybe we should go downtown and check it out before it got dark. There was a little grumping and snarling back and forth, but we finally put away the Phone and moved on.  

Much to our delight downtown had some very original decorations, which only added to our opinion that Columbia is a very pleasant town indeed.  Not only were there the regular lights, but about 1/2 the downtown trees had been sewn into original knitted Christmas blankets.  One was white yarn with red baubles.  Another was a penguin with a nose.  Another had candy stripes.  The entire assemblage, the old trees with large overhanging branches and big trunks, colorfully wrapped with knitted decorations and lit up with lights was cute, funny and delightful.   We took too many pictures.  We were having such a good time shopping and walking downtown that we ran out of time and did not get to the River Walk across the river.  We had to do a quick stop on our way home, a jump out of the car, a few shots of the river, and back home to Greenville before we turned into pumpkins, or just very weary people trying to drive home in the pitch black.  We agreed that Columbia needed a full weekend or even 4 days to do it justice.  In the time period before people got vaccinated and South Carolina was not taking Covid seriously and their infection rate was very high, we were reluctant to stay at a hotel so we never were able to go back while we were staying in Greenville.  

When our longer travels come to a close, we will go back for a long leisurely week and take our time exploring everything.