Sunday in the South

We have now learned that Sunday means something different here.  In New York, museums look at the calendar and say, “Bet we’ll have a lot of visitors today!”  Here, they say, “Why aren’t you at church and home with your family?  Don’t even think about coming here!”  Family values and all that…

Don, normally an intrepid and invincible tour guide, had me drive to three – count ’em, three! – venues that clearly proclaimed their inability to admit us on Sundays.  So now there is a new family rule – to add to long list of existing family rules:  If it’s Sunday and the guidebook says the place is open on Tuesday through Saturday, do not assume that is a typo.  Enough said.  You do not want to know what else transpired as we were arriving at that rule.

At any rate, we were able to tour two lovely small museums:  the Nasher at Duke University; and the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The Nasher is a very modern building with a sweet permanent collection.  The Ackland is a bit larger, and equally interesting.  The Ackland might have an edge, though.  William Ackland originally intended his collection to go to Duke on his death, but Duke had a problem with the stipulation that he be buried in the museum.  I guess if you can’t take it with you, you just stay with it for as long as you can.  At any rate, second-choice Chapel Hill had no problem with that deal, and there it sits – and he lies – today. 

While at Duke in Durham, we also went to the new stadium of the Durham Bulls, a really big deal here.  Wish we could have seen the old stadium that was in the movie.  And speaking of the old days, in Chapel Hill we had a soda fountain treat at Sutton’s, a Tar Heel institution since 1923.  Lots of the pictures on the walls would thrill those of you who follow college basketball, I have no doubt.

And for those of you obsessed with food, we had a wonderful dinner at Gail’s with authentic NC BBQ and all the fixings.  Eat your heart out.