St. Augustine

We had a mini-vacation in St. Augustine, FL for two nights and we stayed in a great hotel called Castillo Real. It had a huge bathtub in the bedroom and I was impressed with the Bath & Bodyworks shampoo and conditioner :)

On Monday we went to the St. Augustine Lighthouse. I always had these romantic ideas about living in a lighthouse and wrote short stories about it when I was in middle school so I was excited to finally see one.

After our visit to the lighthouse we met up with some friends of Albert's from high school and ate at a great restaurant called Columbia's in the historic district. They have a gluten-free menu, which was VERY nice for me. It was unusually chilly that day (since it's right on the coast it was that bitter humid cold -- only people from the desert understand the difference), but we braved the cold and went to the old Spanish colonial Castillo with our friends.

The walls are made of sea shells or coquina (so are the side walks) so they absorbed canon shots a lot better than those made of rocks.

We departed ways with our friends and went exploring the beautiful historic district. It was chilly so I got some Almond Joy hot chocolate. They had all sorts of cool flavors.

We went to the Spanish Quarter (free for those with a military ID) and the guy on the right made us a certificate in the old Spanish Catholic calligraphy.

We stopped by the Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine which was beautiful. Definitely worth checking out...esp because it's free :D

Here's a nice picture of Albert on the beach. We only stayed for a couple of minutes since it was so cold out.



On Tuesday we went to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. I really liked the unique ceiling.

Here we are in fron of Flagler College which used to be a really nice hotel.

We also stopped by Ripley's Believe it or Not.

On the left is the tallest man and on the right is the man with the biggest nose.

They had this room that spins. Albert got a cool picture of it with his new camera.

The Mission of Nombre de Dios where the Spanish colonists had their first mass.

There was a gathering of people by a giant menorah they were lighting for Chanukah so we joined the festivities and sang Chanukah songs and lit candles.