Two Days In Chapel Hill
Jun 15th, 2004, 07:25 AM
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Two Days In Chapel Hill
Hi,
We will be staying in Chapel Hill next Friday and Saturday. We have never been to this area. Which of the universities is the one to see? How do you arrange to be taken on a tour? Or, is there somewhere to get information on a walking tour? What are the highlights to see and do in two days? Thanks.
We will be staying in Chapel Hill next Friday and Saturday. We have never been to this area. Which of the universities is the one to see? How do you arrange to be taken on a tour? Or, is there somewhere to get information on a walking tour? What are the highlights to see and do in two days? Thanks.
Jun 15th, 2004, 10:18 AM
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If visiting UNC, stay at the Carolina Inn. Pricy, but right on campus. If price is a concern, there is a Holiday Inn, Sheraton, Days Inn, and Hampton Inn on 15-501 (a/k/a Fordham Blvd.)
By universities do you mean UNC and Duke? Or are you including other schools?
Weather this weekend is predicted to be hot (low 90s) and humid so try to do outdoor activities early in the day.
For info on UNC, try their website, www.unc.edu. I'm not sure if they have tours on the weekend.
By universities do you mean UNC and Duke? Or are you including other schools?
Weather this weekend is predicted to be hot (low 90s) and humid so try to do outdoor activities early in the day.
For info on UNC, try their website, www.unc.edu. I'm not sure if they have tours on the weekend.
Jun 15th, 2004, 04:30 PM
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If you are interested in universities, you can certainly do both -- and should.
UNC: the first land-grant univ. in the states, with some old buildings and pretty quads around the northern part of the campus, but otherwise sprawling, big, imposing -- with huge medical area, huge sports arena and stadium, etc. Bordered on the north by Franklin st., a classic college-town main street.
Duke: absolutely gorgeous campus, more compact (although split between West (main) and East Campuses) but almost a Hollywood set for a neo-Gothic campus. Duke Chapel (i.e. a small cathedral) and Duke Gardens are don't-misses -- just spectacular. Also has a massive medical campus, notable sports facilities but more on the Ivy-covered order.
Go to the websites for each (www.duke.edu, and www.unc.edu) and a little poking around will yield info for visiting, tours, etc.
It will be HOT!!!!! Bring light clothes, a hat, water, and a windshield shade for your car.
UNC: the first land-grant univ. in the states, with some old buildings and pretty quads around the northern part of the campus, but otherwise sprawling, big, imposing -- with huge medical area, huge sports arena and stadium, etc. Bordered on the north by Franklin st., a classic college-town main street.
Duke: absolutely gorgeous campus, more compact (although split between West (main) and East Campuses) but almost a Hollywood set for a neo-Gothic campus. Duke Chapel (i.e. a small cathedral) and Duke Gardens are don't-misses -- just spectacular. Also has a massive medical campus, notable sports facilities but more on the Ivy-covered order.
Go to the websites for each (www.duke.edu, and www.unc.edu) and a little poking around will yield info for visiting, tours, etc.
It will be HOT!!!!! Bring light clothes, a hat, water, and a windshield shade for your car.
Jun 15th, 2004, 05:09 PM
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Thanks so much for the information on touring universities. And the weather! Besides touring the universities, what other highlights would you see and do in two days? Also, any restaurant suggestions?
Jun 16th, 2004, 05:13 AM
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Sites/sights: I repeat, don't miss Duke Gardens. UNC also has a very small gem of a garden at the corner of Cameron and Raleigh Sts.
Otherwise, there's not a huge amount to do in Chapel Hill other than poke around on Franklin St. (shops, restaurants, Tar Heel souvenirs) , but there is a planetarium that might be fun if you can catch a show. When I take guests around, I take them to A Southern Season, our gourmet/import store in University Mall (on Estes between Franklin and 15-501), if they're into wines, foods, kitchenware -- there's also a restaurant and bar there (better for lunch than dinner).
Out at the west end of Franklin St. you'll have the "suburb" of Carrboro, which used to be the RR station for Chapel Hill until Chapel Hill grew out to meet it. Carrboro is where artists, students, and less affluent others live, and/but CarrMill Mall has Weaver St. Market and some other little stores, as well as one local landmark, Elmo's Diner, which is a GREAT place to get breakfast all day or lots of other things from healthy to hearty.
In Durham, there's 9th Street for college-neighborhood shops/cafes (and a branch of Elmo's Diner) and then Brightleaf Square in "downtown" Durham -- used to be tobacco warehouse, now has some interesting stores and restaurants, and you'd be interested (for about 10 min.) in seeing what a former tobacco capital city looks like with Liggett Myers buildings, etc.--soon to be yupp-scale housing. There's a good white-tablecloth Greek restaurant in Brightleaf called Taverna Nikos and up the street is one of my favorites, Anotherthyme -- only open for dinner but very reasonable and very creative.
For splurge dining, 4 Square in Durham has my highest recommendation (I don't like everyone else's favorite, Magnolia Grill), but you'll need a good map and directions to get there. For more moderate dining, I like 411 West at 411 West Franklin St. in CH -- modern Italian with oven-baked pizzas and good entres in a nice setting -- it's popular so there can be a wait (not painful at their bar), although this is a slow time of year.
Finally, for the retail-addicted, the biggest deal in the area is the Streets at Southpoint at the southernmost tip of Durham just off I-40 (Fayetteville Rd.)-- a sprawling indoor-outdoor mall with stores ranging from Nordstrom's to Sears, a bunch of really good but crowded restaurants as well as a foodcourt, fountains, theaters, and a griddle-hot parking lot in summer. It's the major hangout for kids other than Franklin or 9th streets.
Otherwise, there's not a huge amount to do in Chapel Hill other than poke around on Franklin St. (shops, restaurants, Tar Heel souvenirs) , but there is a planetarium that might be fun if you can catch a show. When I take guests around, I take them to A Southern Season, our gourmet/import store in University Mall (on Estes between Franklin and 15-501), if they're into wines, foods, kitchenware -- there's also a restaurant and bar there (better for lunch than dinner).
Out at the west end of Franklin St. you'll have the "suburb" of Carrboro, which used to be the RR station for Chapel Hill until Chapel Hill grew out to meet it. Carrboro is where artists, students, and less affluent others live, and/but CarrMill Mall has Weaver St. Market and some other little stores, as well as one local landmark, Elmo's Diner, which is a GREAT place to get breakfast all day or lots of other things from healthy to hearty.
In Durham, there's 9th Street for college-neighborhood shops/cafes (and a branch of Elmo's Diner) and then Brightleaf Square in "downtown" Durham -- used to be tobacco warehouse, now has some interesting stores and restaurants, and you'd be interested (for about 10 min.) in seeing what a former tobacco capital city looks like with Liggett Myers buildings, etc.--soon to be yupp-scale housing. There's a good white-tablecloth Greek restaurant in Brightleaf called Taverna Nikos and up the street is one of my favorites, Anotherthyme -- only open for dinner but very reasonable and very creative.
For splurge dining, 4 Square in Durham has my highest recommendation (I don't like everyone else's favorite, Magnolia Grill), but you'll need a good map and directions to get there. For more moderate dining, I like 411 West at 411 West Franklin St. in CH -- modern Italian with oven-baked pizzas and good entres in a nice setting -- it's popular so there can be a wait (not painful at their bar), although this is a slow time of year.
Finally, for the retail-addicted, the biggest deal in the area is the Streets at Southpoint at the southernmost tip of Durham just off I-40 (Fayetteville Rd.)-- a sprawling indoor-outdoor mall with stores ranging from Nordstrom's to Sears, a bunch of really good but crowded restaurants as well as a foodcourt, fountains, theaters, and a griddle-hot parking lot in summer. It's the major hangout for kids other than Franklin or 9th streets.
Jun 16th, 2004, 05:15 AM
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For "the scene" in Chapel Hill, I forgot to mention Top O'the Hill restaurant/microbrew bar, above the corner of Franklin and Columbia St. in the middle of everything. Good for outdoor lunch (unless it's too hot) overlooking the scene, or also good for dinner. Reasonable.
Jun 22nd, 2004, 02:27 PM
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The Durham Bulls are in town so go see a historic AAA Pro team. Fun time for everyone. http://www.dbulls.com/ Also very inexpensive to see pros of the near future. Hey, also, maybe not be a ton of fun but at least watch for, the NHL draft is this weekend in Raleigh. I know people left out Raleigh as it is 30 minutes or so there, if you are out at night, go downtown and eat at one of the many resturants................ BUt I would walk around Chapel Hill and stay in the Carolina Inn. The streets are full until late into the night
Jun 28th, 2004, 05:47 AM
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Hi,
I did go and had a great time. We stayed two nights at The Carolina Inn. The inn has a pleasant, nicely decorated lobby. The room we reserved had one queen size bed. It was a little smaller than what I think of as a standard size motel room. I'm thinking the rooms with two beds would be bigger, but probably more expensive. Anyway, we switched rooms twice because our first room was way too small. It had one window in it, and part of the ceiling came into the room, so it took up some of the space. The second room we got was in the front of the inn, so all we heard from 11 p.m. to about 1 a.m. was people on the front "porch" of the inn, talking and laughing. The third room was good -- no noise and not so small.
We ate breakfast at the Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill. The coffee was great, and so was the food. We did a walking tour of the historic part of the UNC campus in Chapel Hill. (We got a map of the historic sites from the Visitor's Center on Franklin Street.)
We ate at Crossroads restaurant (inside the inn), and it was delicious. Thanks again for everyone's help.
I did go and had a great time. We stayed two nights at The Carolina Inn. The inn has a pleasant, nicely decorated lobby. The room we reserved had one queen size bed. It was a little smaller than what I think of as a standard size motel room. I'm thinking the rooms with two beds would be bigger, but probably more expensive. Anyway, we switched rooms twice because our first room was way too small. It had one window in it, and part of the ceiling came into the room, so it took up some of the space. The second room we got was in the front of the inn, so all we heard from 11 p.m. to about 1 a.m. was people on the front "porch" of the inn, talking and laughing. The third room was good -- no noise and not so small.
We ate breakfast at the Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill. The coffee was great, and so was the food. We did a walking tour of the historic part of the UNC campus in Chapel Hill. (We got a map of the historic sites from the Visitor's Center on Franklin Street.)
We ate at Crossroads restaurant (inside the inn), and it was delicious. Thanks again for everyone's help.
