Hello to all you most faraway.
Today was about exploring the northeast corner of Florida. We did not find any Outsider art but we did see some wonderful sights and came upon a few surprises. The highlight was definitely St. Augustine; it tried hard to compensate for the low brow tourist trap explosion of the FL areas we have seen thus far. It has some great architecture and the place is oozing with history.
Jacksonville is where Susan once called "home". She took us to her old neighborhood places in the older parts of town with grand mansions and small neighborhood commerce zones of little shops and restaurants all near the St. John's river. Later we had a wonderful dinner with her friends Janet and Jerry. There was lots of reminiscing and eating mixed in with interesting conversation and laughs; good.
Here are a few of the high points:
Jacksonville -- very new and "golfy" with housing developments everywhere. Down by the ocean it was bars, bikini babes (not all should don the thong - there needs to be a screening process and especially for those riding bikes), beach bubbas and beer mixed in with high-rise hotels..... yuck.
1. The Castle -- along the coast we saw some remarkable homes and cottages. The most amazing being the Otttis Castle. Not much info on this one and alas, no one came out and invited us for a tour.
2. Field of Aero-Derelicts -- couple of acres of long abandoned airplanes. Just guessing that they were WWII or later and mostly Navy - there are numerous Navel bases nearby. Okay, our first crime of the day was ignoring the "No Trespassing" signs. Got a few cool pics.
St. Augustine -- beautiful town but we avoided the tourist traps like the "Fountain of Youth", "Ghost Jail" and the wax museum. After touring a museum and college, we walked for miles and settled in for a nice meal on a balcony above the ever increasing throng on the streets. The people we referring to this being the "off season". That means the place must overflow with the tourii soon.
3. Villa Zoradaya -- After a bit of research, we sought out the one museum that fit our Oddasee spirit best. This was a very out of the ordinary former home now museum. The somewhat garish exterior paint was a precursor to the overtly Alhambra inspired decor and architecture within. Very magical, unique and hard to imagine being someone's home.
Note: No photography allowed. The second crime of the day was R. taking a few clandestine shots with fairly sad results. The flash was just not available for my sneak photos. Oldest rug in the world -- Egyptian, made of cat hair, and came wrapped around a foot of the mummy it originally enclosed.
4. Flagler College - an old four star hotel transformed into a 4 year liberal arts school. This place makes the Broadmoor look like Motel 6. The area we saw was the entry way to the women's residency, dining hall and lounges. Ooooh ahh! We had to do a bit of Google research to satisfy our curiosity about this incredible educational edifice. Henry Flagler brought the railroad to the area & helped develop it in the 1880's.
5. On our wander around old St. Augustine, we came upon a Greek Orthodox shrine. Beautiful and serene; we agreed it would be a nice place to live - not available we fear.
That sums up Day 35. It was off to Georgia and yet another uninspired motel for a few zzzzs. Tomorrow we will leave the Sunshine State.
Love and still longing for the Fountain of Youth,
Rodney & Susan
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