St. Augustine:
We only spent one night in St. Augustine, but we had a
chance to walk around the historic district which has buildings dating back to
the 1700s. One of the most eye-catching
buildings is Flagler College. This was originally
the Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler between 1885 and 1887. It’s built in the Spanish Renaissance style
and has beautiful stained glass windows created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Across from the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College),
Flagler also erected the Hotel Alcazar between 1887-1889. Later purchased by O. C. Lightner to exhibit
his collections, this hotel now serves as the Lightner Museum and City Hall.
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| Match Safes |
Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral:
Our next destination was Cocoa Beach which is on Cape
Canaveral. We really enjoyed our stay
here, saw a beautiful sunset on the beach and ate great seafood!
But the reason for this stop was to go to the Kennedy Space
Center in hopes to see a launch of the SpaceX Falcon rocket. We had a wonderful tour that allowed us to
see the launch pad and the NASA building where the rockets are housed. And we saw another beautiful sunset!
Our third day there, we were able to view the launch. It was fabulous! This particular rocket was unmanned and was
headed to the International Space Station with cargo. One of the coolest aspects of this launch was
that after it went up to a certain height, the booster came back to earth and
landed intact! This allows easy recovery
and reuse.
St. Petersburg:
There are lots of bridges to cross when traveling in
Florida. Here is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that we crossed on our way to St.
Petersburg:
There were two places that I especially wanted to see in St.
Petersburg: the Dali Museum and the
Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center.
The Dali Museum
is a unique work architecturally, designed by Yann Weymouth of HOK. The building is a rectangle with
hurricane-proof walls. Exploding from
the walls is a geodesic glass bubble known as the “enigma” which pays homage to
the dome of Dali’s museum in Spain.
Inside the museum is a helical staircase to represent Dali’s
use of spirals and the shape of the DNA molecule in his works.
We had a very knowledgeable docent to explain Dali’s works
and the history of the collection. We gained
a much stronger appreciation of how Dali uses symbolism in his works. This work is entitled Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea. If you stand back 65 feet or use look at the painting using a cell phone camera, the image becomes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln!
I especially enjoyed a virtual reality experience where I
was immersed in the surreal world of Dali as portrayed in his work Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet’s
“Angelus”. Here’s a picture of the
original work:
One of my favorite artists is the glass artist Dale
Chihuly. St. Petersburg has a great
collection of his works at the Morean Arts Center. Here are a few our my favorite pieces
displayed there:
Here’s a fun sighting – a church in Perry, Florida that
looks like a bird!
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| Church by the Sea |
Lanark Village:
We stayed a few nights in the Florida Panhandle beach town
of Lanark Village, just a few miles from Carrabelle and Apalachicola. This Village had been used as a training camp
for WWII soldiers learning amphibious assault tactics in preparation for the
landing in Normandy. Our Airbnb was one
of the barracks used by these soldiers, with a few modern-day conveniences. We enjoyed exploring the small beach towns of
Carrabelle and Apalachicola as well, although we were saddened to see the
devastating results of recent Hurricane Michael.
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World’s Smallest Police Station – Carrabelle, FL
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More bridges!
Pensacola:
I fell in love with Pensacola Beach! This was the first time I had been to this
area and was wowed by the white sand.
Going to this area in the off-season is great – we didn’t
have to worry about parking or wait in lines at restaurants. We felt like we had the beach to
ourselves! We explored Ft. Pickens which
is at the end of the Pensacola Beach island. What an interesting place and check out this great shot of a Great Blue
Heron that landed right next to us!
Another fun sighting in Pensacola Beach – a futuristic home
(who/what is that in the doorway?)
Next stop … Louisiana!
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2019!
