Our neighbours are getting bigger – and have a little more of the aristocrat about them!

The sun came out this morning and immediately life seemed an awful lot better.  The forecast doesn’t look too good for the beginning of next week but by mid-week……well let’s just say we have high hopes of breaking out the T-shirts!!  We took a turn around St Augustine and there is a lot to recommend sightseeing on Christmas morning when you have the town virtually to yourself.  We did find a diner open for breakfast (they were doing a roaring trade) and we shall go foraging for late Christmas lunch/early Christmas dinner in a while.  Rumour has it the Irish pub is offering a Christmas Irish Stew in addition to their usual offerings…I wonder what that consists of?

There is a problem with the engine and so we are likely to be here for a while, depending upon when we can get someone to look at it.

St Augustine is very “Spanish” and was settled 55 years before the Pilgrim Fathers.  Then the Brits came (1763-1784).  Then the Spanish returned (1784-1821) before becoming American in 1821.  There are (again) many references to historic buildings being destroyed by fire but there are some beautiful properties.

Some views of St Augustine on a quiet Christmas morning.

(1)  Flagler Buildings (1889) in the distance.  Originally the Alcazar Hotel which contained the world’s largest indoor swimming pool.

(2)  Wachovia Bank Building (1926)  (During our travels we have often confused Banks with (new) Churches at a distance and vice versa, I suppose you could say they are both places of worship but two different Gods!  Banks and churches are often very grand – some might say pretentious – often they both incorporate stained glass(!) and in both instances I wonder where they get the money to build such edifices.)

(3)  Casa Monica Hotel (in the foreground) (1887) later bought by same Henry Flagler who changed the name to the Cordova Hotel.  Closed during the Depression but re-opened as a luxury hotel in 1999.

(4)  Example of Colonial style house – bed and breakfast inn.