$30k later - 23/12/16 - Day 07 - Rosen Inn/St. Augustine/Tommy Bahamas

[Leyfy]

23/12/16

Index here
Day 6 here

This morning we woke up a bit later than we wanted, 8.15am and so to quickly get on the road we decided to go back to the buffet at the Rosen Inn. We were quickly seated and helped ourselves - the buffet is okay, but we both missed the choice of Ponderosa! Our plan was to go further north today up to St. Augustine so we knew it was going to be a long journey as it is 107 miles-ish.

After paying the bill, we left about 9 and, for the first time in our various trips to Florida, headed north up the I4 towards 'downtown Orlando'. The further away we got and the closer to towards the Winter Park the more pot-holey and bumpy the road seemed to be!

St. Augustine was somewhere I'd penciled in for us to visit on pretty much every trip and finally we were making it up there for a visit! What followed was a very long and very straight north, which took every minute of the two hours the satnav had predicted. When we left Orlando the temperature was about 21 degrees, but the further north we got, the more it dropped and we went from brilliant blue skies to it being quite overcast after we got past Daytona Beach. It temperature settled around 17 degrees and ... HURRAH... FINALLY the satnav told us to come off of the interstate!

As we'd done a couple of long journeys two days in a row the car had about a 1/4 tank of fuel left so I suggested stopping to fill up so we didn't have to do it on the way home. Phil went in to pre-pay and I said put $20 on the pump, thinking that might be enough. I was close - it was $17 to fill up tank! Wish it was that cheap at home!

I'd programmed the satnav with directions to the Old Town trolly parking, but we saw an obvious 'touristy' signs with directions to park in Old Town. Following the directions into the car park, we easily found a space after paying a hefty $12 to park the car! Er... Hang on mate, are you hiding a giant mouse and a couple of rollercoasters in this place if you're charging that much to park?!

Not even KSC charge that much! I'm sure there are cheaper places to park but, to be honest, I was glad to just get out the car after a two hour journey.

It turns out we were right by a huge and very lovely tourist information center. I popped in to use the restroom and picked up a map. We were right by the old Military fort, Castillo de San Marcos, so that was our first stop.

By now it was about 11am. We paid $10 each to actually go into the building and as we got in a guide told us that they would be setting off one of the canons at 11.30. We had a look round the various buildings and displays, telling us about when the fort was run by the Spanish. It is the oldest masonry fort in the US, built by the Spanish and run by the British for a short while as well. Before the fort was built apparently St. Augustine was preyed on by pirates quite a lot.

At about 11.20 we made our way upstairs and watched the cannon demonstration.

The person in charge explained that they would do the firing demonstration as the Spanish did it and that there would be whole teams of them running canons along the wall. They did the whole demonstration in Spanish, apart from when he yelled 'Cover your EARS'!

I'm quite glad he did - wow was it loud!

It must've been deafening when there was a whole row of the things going off. We had a good look round the fort:

We left about twelve and looked round the shops in Old Town. It's very pretty:

We decided to stop for a drink and to consult the map.

Phil, being in the medical profession, said he'd like to go to the Spanish military hospital museum so we followed the map and found ourselves in a tiny little room looking at some old surgical implements:

We were given a personalised tour with some VERY graphic details about how operations were performed during colonial times. Although typing that has made reminded me of this from Friends:

*cough*

Anyway! Apparently the Spanish were the doctors you wanted to go to as they had a much higher success rate as they had more training than other European doctors at the time. She also talked us through a tooth extraction which made Phil go *very* pale as he hates absolutely anything tooth related!

We were in there for a good 45 minutes and our tour guide was excellent and really informative.

By now it was 1pm so we had a slow walk round and ended up back near the pirate museum so we gave that a visit too. It was another 'guided tour' with a guy dressed up as a pirate talking us through the various exhibits. Apparently this one of only two remaining Jolly Rogers that actually flew on a pirate ship:

The final room was an exhibit about the portrayal of pirates in the movies and I was really excited to see some props from The Goonies, a film which I absolutely love!

They also had a sword from Pirates of Carribean:

We left the pirate museum about 2.30pm and we were both a little bir hungry, but knew we had a great meal that evening booked so onl wanted a little snack. We stopped in a local bar and ordered a couple of drinks (coke for the driver!) and some chicken wings to share. They quickly arrived and were very welcome and absolutely delicious. Time for a quick selfie!

After a look round a few shops we decided to head back to Orlando as we knew it would be a long drive. We made our way back to the car park:

We found the car and left st Augustine about 3pm, making our way back to the interstate. The roads were a little slower than our journey there and we ground to a halt just outside of Daytona Beach - there was a big accidents on the other side of road and everyone was slowing down to look!

Unfortunately there was another accident and this happened again. The driving was a little scary in terms of people weaving in and out on the highway and not leaving much space. However, I got us back to the Rosen Inn in one piece about 5.15 and we both got changed and ready to go out.

As per usual, w went to The Pub for a drink and then over to Tommy Bahamas for 7pm for our reservation. I *always* make a reservation and generally we don't need it as there was only about four other tables! Unlike previous years they sat us inside, but by the window.

As always, I had the scallop sliders for my starter. I do actually have a picture of these as I posted it to Instagram - yay!

This are absolutely delicious - the scallops are always huge and juicy and the onion that comes with it is crispy and delicate.

Phil decided to go for a caesar salad to start and said it was just what he fancied.

For our mains Phil had steak and I had the seared tuna. Both were excellent, as usual in there. If you've read any of our previous trip reports, you'll know we're not really dessert people. However, we always make an exception for Tommy Bahama as on our first visit we had the Malted Chocolate Pie and it became the stuff of legend! The cookie crust is unbelievably good! However, it is huge and really rich so I don't know how anyone could polish one off themselves!

(Another food picture, yay!)

We struggled to finish it between us. The whole meal was excellent and we were thoroughly stuffed! After paying the bill we waddled back to the Rosen Inn to finish the night off with a couple of drinks in the bar.

Fitbit Info:

Totals
11,758 steps
8.01 km
2,211 calories

Day 08 here - Christmas Eve! SeaWorld/Celebration/Millers Ale House

[moshman10]

How small was the car? $17 for 3/4 tank! PS. Tell Phil to burn the Quins shirt.

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by moshman10

How small was the car? $17 for 3/4 tank! PS. Tell Phil to burn the Quins shirt.

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It was some tiny Hyundai i20 thing!

He's a huge Quins fan so that would never happen

[Floridaagogo]

Love that episode of friends but not as much as the one where Ross wore leather trousers then put lotion on making himself a pair of "paste pants " 😆😆lovely day.think the advantage of having been a few times is you can venture outside the theme park comfort zone and see what else Florida has to offer.x

[mick]

Another good day we spent a day in St Augustine a few years ago and had a lovely day

Joan

[smithlane]

Apothecary table!
Brilliant day. We are hoping to visit St Augustine next year. I love history so it's right up my street.

[waiting4disney]

Sounds like a really interesting day.

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Love that episode of friends but not as much as the one where Ross wore leather trousers then put lotion on making himself a pair of "paste pants " 😆😆lovely day.think the advantage of having been a few times is you can venture outside the theme park comfort zone and see what else Florida has to offer.x

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Ha ha - that episode is brilliant too! My favourite moment is the one where Monica opens the door to see Ross and Rachel kissing and says 'I'm sorry, I seem to have opened the door to the past!'

I also remember the *total* shock about Monica and Chandler - pre-internet spoilers everywhere!

Originally Posted by mick

Another good day we spent a day in St Augustine a few years ago and had a lovely day

Joan

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It's a lovely place to visit, isn't it?

Originally Posted by smithlane

Apothecary table!
Brilliant day. We are hoping to visit St Augustine next year. I love history so it's right up my street.

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"Well there’s yore. And uh, y’know, yesteryear..."

It's a great day out, I am really glad we made journey up there

Originally Posted by waiting4disney

Sounds like a really interesting day.

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It was and great to see something brand new as well to us


Thanks for reading everyone

[DisneyDreamer81]

Oh god I love that Friends episode! The apothecary table! My favourite episode is the one with the cheesecake, when Joey takes out his own fork from his pocket at the end

St Augustine looks really interesting! I think my husband would love it. He's in the army and also loves pirates! Such a big kid

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by DisneyDreamer81

Oh god I love that Friends episode! The apothecary table! My favourite episode is the one with the cheesecake, when Joey takes out his own fork from his pocket at the end

St Augustine looks really interesting! I think my husband would love it. He's in the army and also loves pirates! Such a big kid

See more...

Phoebe: "No-no-no, but I am mad! I am mad! Because this stuff is everything that is wrong with the world! And it’s all sitting up in my living room and all I can think about is how I don’t have that lamp!"



St. Augustine was a great trip out for the day. The pirate museum is really well done! We were considering adding a day there to our honeymoon but I don't think we can fit it in so I'm glad we got there on this trip