July 28: St. Petersburg-St. Augustine

Today, a sunny Sunday morning, Jim, Nancy and I had breakfast together before Nancy and I finished packing for our excursion to St. Augustine and said goodbye to a heron that had wandered by, unafraid.  After stop-and-go traffic on Hwy. 95, past Orlando and Daytona Beach, we finally got on Hwy. 1 A, following the shoreline to St.Augustine.  Emerald water of the intensest hue!  By 2:00 p.m. we reached our Courtyard by Marriott Bonvoy hotel.  Nancy had enough points to pay for one night, and we split the cost of the second night.  It has a lovely swimming pool and a breakfast restaurant, and in all serves our purpose very well.  We had only a short time to eat, so decided to have lunch at a little cafe across the street that specialized in hamburgers, which we ate without buns and with cole slaw.  It had all kinds of car memorabilia and filling station signs which reminded me of Alexandra’s and my trip along Route 66 last summer.  Good memories!  Adding to all the car paraphernalia was a video on how to repair and restore old cars!

We ate quickly, then dashed across the street to catch the trolley bus which ran by several of the hotels in the area.  We intended to have a survey of all 23 of the stops on the trolley route of central St. Augustine, but didn’t realize until instructed that we had taken a trolley bus of limited stops instead of the trolley train, which includes all stops but does not leave the island St. Augustine is sitting on.  So we got off at Stop 16, which was actually well located and within reachable distance of quite a few buildings we were anxious to see, and which allowed us to get back in time for the last trolley bus of the day, at 4:30p.m.  Very confusing, but we have a better understanding of what we need to do tomorrow.  Meanwhile, we took in several key sites, a beautiful plaza and the exterior of Flagler College’s administration building, and those pictures I have posted on Facebook for your perusal.  

St. Augustine is a city founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers; it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States.  It is the second oldest city in United States territory after San Juan, Puerto Rico (founded in 1521).  The building whose exterior we looked at in detail today is Flagler College, a small, private college on the grounds of a former hotel.  It is Spanish Renaissance in spirit and reminds me so much of the Alhambra in Granada.  A central, focal point in the courtyard features a fountain manned by frogs.  We even got inside the lobby of the building surrounding it, whose interior we are going to see in greater detail tomorrow.  I can hardly wait!  The great lobby has a 68-foot domed ceiling supported by eight ornate oak caryatids handcarved, with robed women, each slightly different from the next.  If the lobby is any indication, the tour is going to be amazing!

Clouds had been threatening all day, and when we climbed back onto the trolley bus at 4:30, it was steamy.  It rained a bit, but when we got to the hotel, we cooled off and then drove to a restaurant called Creekside Dinery.  A was in the mood for Southern fried chicken, which I have not had since about 2005 and a trip to Savannah, Georgia.  The dish today included dark and white meat (Nancy and I split this entire dinner), a sweet potato each, and green beans.  So scrumptious!  A band played, we sat next to the water, and only ran for cover when a squall started developing, which abated relatively soon.  FIne dinner!

And now we are back at our hotel, exhausted, but ready to at least tackle the center of St. Augustine and what seems to be a notable preponderance of Spanish-Renaissance and Italianate structures.  Will sign off today, with a fond adieu.  As ever, SV