March 23 Friday Day 26 still in St. Augustine

Update later, tired tonight, takes 1/2 to an hour to think and write. jerr

here goes:

To the Trolley we went. We thought what we would do to wake up was to ride the trolley for a while. It is really nice to hear different versions of St. Augustine, its places and history. We finally got off the trolley by the area where the first mass in the America’s was supposedly said. It is a little way off the main area by a peninsula in a bay. There is a 208 foot stainless steel cross at the point. As one walks toward the old church in the approximate area of that mass there is a cemetery. It had been used during the early years with one I photo’d that said: Don Oliuerco – 1800 Consort of Dona Gonzalez 1797; love the consort. A quiet place. From here we walked the rest f the day.

Time for lunch, we were told that the restaurant across the street from our motel was good. It was Le Pavillon, French and German foods. The owner was Claude with wife Geisle. She from German, he from Switzerland and Italy, he was a chef with the Hilton chain for many years. Nice old gent, we spoke with him at our table before our lunch. We had cabernet’s with Shirleen’s crepe with chicken and a light sauce, and I the Friday special there Seafood puff pastry, scallops, shrimp and a tasty sauce. What was special about this meal was the salad with Boston (butter) lettuce with a light Italian dressing accompanied with a super parmesan toasted bread. The bread was a nice soft texture, halved and spread with fresh parmesan and toasted. I think the bread was warm before it was toasted because the bread was soft and warm.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, the one Mr. Flagler built for his daughter and her child his first wife and his self. The church was built within a year. He hired two crews of 500 people who worked day and night to finish it by the anniversary of his daughter’s death. It was appointed with rich mahogany and marble. The baptismal font is a six foot by three foot solid piece of marble. The grounds of the church have a nice garden area with a wall for ashes. As you would expect quiet.

We also saw where Lincoln had signed the emancipation Act. The Woolworth where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a sit in, the pool where the owner poured hydrochloric acid into when DMLK was swimming and a house he slept in. and a church he preached in. Neat!!

Across from this was the Flagler College. It is the old Hotel Ponce De Leon that Flagler owned in 1877. He had his friend Tiffany do the windows in the restaurant now students eating area. They are valued at 37 million dollars. Not that exciting but for some multicolored ones higher up from the floor level ones. The chairs were also made by Tiffany, there were five left. They were wood back with a leather seat fully packed for comfort. The front legs had wheels on them for easy pulling out and putting under the ladies. The wood back had the face of a happy lion (lions were used throughout the structure as Leon means Lion) – guess you just change vowels for a Spanish influence. These chairs were sold to the prof’s for five chairs they paid 75$.

We walked over to the Lightner building which housed a large museum, but we opted out for a walk to the Hotel San Marco. Just a walk through not much compared to the college.

The bridge of lions is being refurbished. A bridge has been built alongside the old one. In another four years the new bridge will be removed and relocated to some other place as a bridge and the old bridge will be again in use. 67 Million dollar renovation. It is also a law that no buildings within the old district can be higher than 34 feet, three stories.

We thought we would try a different restaurant instead of eating across the street from where we were staying. So off for downtown we went, it was already 6:30 and hunger was evident. We walked past many places packed full on St. George street, the old city street. We made the corner and tried Hungry Harry’s again packed and a 45 minutes wait for an outside table. Stopped at the Hilton, no one eating we left quickly. Down the road we went, yes you guessed it, we ate at the place across from us. Again Shirleen with a cabernet and I with two faz bier Warsteiner’s, the bread, salad the same but this time we split a Vienne Schnitzel, made with pork. The breading was with an egg wash and then cracker crumb breading and fried in butter. Vegetables were carrots, green beans and a vinegary purple cabbage – I thought one of the best I have had. Split charge was only 5$. jerr