Day Two

I awoke to the sun streaming thru the window heralding the start of another beautiful day. I tried pretty hard to talk myself out of going for a jog, but I really need to loose the 10 pounds of sympathy weight I gained while my daughter was pregnant. So, I donned my gear, and out the door I went.

St Augustine is beautiful and the downtown area is very assessable by foot. One gorgeous old Spanish style home after another. And then WOW!!! Henry Flagler's Old Hotel "The Ponce De Leon" which has been turned into Flagler College. An absolutely Stunning Campus.

I ran back to Casa Yallaha, and instead of the knife and fork, I enlisted my hands to polish off the left over pizza from yesterday, shipped a bunch of EBay Items out at the local post office two blocks away, and with anticipation, excitement and loads of enthusiasm i grabbed my camera and headed back into town.  I met up with Peter my tour guide and set off to explore and learn.
This 1st photo of the Hotel/Campus I cut and pasted, but the rest are mine

So rich with history that you can almost feel it. How incredible it must have been to come down on Henry Flaglers train, walk thru the 30 foot Iron gates of the hotel's outer wall into the quiet peaceful gardens, and finally up the stairs, to step into the most magnificent Lobby ever. Louis Comfort Tiffany himself designed the interior of this hotel.

There is a wall that goes around the entire Hotel/Campus with chains strung between the posts. Century's ago when pirates and locals alike wrecked ships offshore for there Booty, these chains are what they used. Nasty looking aren't they? Solid Iron!!

The tour lasted a little over an hour, and was really great. Peter had a wealth of knowledge. He painted pictures of what it must have been like in the 1500's as he showed me everything from the oldest street in America to the most photographed one. The later has been on the cover of several magazines. 

This pic is taken where the Spanish first landed, lived for a while, and held their first Mass.

The end of the tour got a little scary as the Skies darkened and lightning flashed close by. We raced back to Casa Yallaha. I jumped out of the cart, ran full blast across the parking area, and just made it up to the porch when the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets.

The afternoon and evening have been spent working on EBay listings, and planning my day tomorrow. I am off to Savannah Georgia.

I will miss St. Augustine. I learned a lot about it's history, and a little more about myself.

It is late. I will continue tomorrow.

Sweet Dreams!