Since we arrived in St. Augustine too late last time to do any tours, we decided to go back for Part 2 last Thursday! We were able to tour inside the Castillo de San Marcos fort and the Lightner museum. I just love history, and being able to see and touch things from the past is such a privilege. To stand in front of a throne chair and know that some nobleman or king sat there…amazing. The kids especially loved learning about the cannons at the Fort and standing where the sentrys stood to keep watch over the St. Johns river.
The Lightner museum used to be the Alcazer hotel, built in 1887. It held the largest indoor pool of it’s time (so they say), which now holds a cafe at one end. The original pool floor is still there. Abbey counted the steps and compared them to a photo showing the pool…she wanted to know how deep the water was!
We’ve still got more to do in St. Augustine, so we’ll be back :) Here are a few more photos of our day…
Can you imagine standing in that little tower all day?
See?! It’s quite small inside!
A model of the fort…this is the shape of it from above. The middle section is an open courtyard, with rooms all around. The top is where the cannons are (obviously)
Guard room, complete with straw-filled mattresses. Comfy!
“Pool†at Lightner (see cafe tables at the end?)
Photo in the back of when it WAS a pool!
May 7th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
That looks like such fun! And the pool! I feel like I could just dive right into that picture! I love history too! We should do a tour of Europe together….:-)
May 7th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Fun field trip!!!
May 7th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Looks like fun. I figured out how to leave a comment :-)
Ruth
May 12th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Looks like the kids learned a lot of history on this trip! That’s a tiny tower!! That’s amazing how they turned the pool into a cafe! Glad you got to tour it this time around…it’s not a long trip from Jax to St. Augustine. Thanks for the interesting pictures. The kids look great with their “friend” in the cool hat! Love, Mom