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Friday, May 11, 2012

The ups and downs of St. Augustine - last installment

This is the last part of our tour of St. Augustine.  There are  museums we'd like to return to and some tiny, one lane streets we'd like to wander next time but at this point we're tired of the commercialism here.  It hides the beautiful and interesting areas almost completely.  I'm tired of tour buses, pirates, Ripley's Believe It Or Not shuttles, tour trolleys, buses disgorging hundreds of school children clothed in identical, neon t-shirts and their loud mouthed "keepers", brightly colored scooters complete with eyelashes, beer trucks, and store after store of cheap clothes and sunglasses.

What we will miss is our quiet, green campground and that wonderful beach.

Below are the last of the pictures I took in the Victorian era Flager College area.

 Flagler Collge, formerly Ponce de Leon Hotel



We are awed at the details in this building.  Dave reminds me to "look up" and I see even more...


Tiffany glass windows





This is the Alcazar Hotel directly across from the Ponce de Leon Hotel.  Flagler built it as a place for his hotel guests to have fun in early St. Augustine.  It housed a huge indoor pool, a bowling alley, a billiard hall, gambling casino, turkish baths, bike rentals and everything a Victorian traveler might want.


And I can't forget these two.  They flanked the entrance to the courtyard of Flagler Collge, right at eye level.
They mesmorized me.

1 comment:

  1. I had NO idea that US had such beautiful and fascinating architecture ...looks like Europe! I'll be right down!

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