Second day on Trolley Tour, but OUCH.

OUCH!  My right knee hurt all day.  Despite taking Advil for the last few days because there was pain in the knee as well was the hip and shoulder and aching around the ankle and back of calf, my knee on Friday hurt worse than it has in years.  If I sat and rested for awhile, I could get about five minutes of pain free walking.  Then it would start up and pretty soon I was limping.  I'm assuming it's just the arthritis that I  know is in there flaring up.  Bad timing.  It used to be things only hurt when I stood up or walked for too long.  Sitting gave great relief. Now that's not true anymore.  Sitting brings a dull ache in the right hip that I'm blaming on the spinal stenosis in the back.  It hits me a lot when I'm driving, but it's hurting right now sitting on a chair at the dining room table in the condo typing this blog.  Standing up makes that better, but then the knee hurts.  This kind of all sucks.

Despite that, we had a fun day and did three stops off the trolley.  We went to the Flagler College tour first, then got off at Whetstone Chocolate  Factory for lunch at the Subway next door, and ended the day with the Castillo de San Marco.  After resting at home for an hour, we had dinner at Denny's.

Today is Shabbat, and we usually don't do much.  We had planned to stay at the condo and swim in the pool; however, we now have other plans.  I was in too much pain yesterday to try to walk around Ripley's Believe it or Not, but we've already paid for those tickets.  So we decided to drive there today. The parking is free and the ticket is prepaid.  No problem.  We are also driving about 15 miles south to Fort Matanzas, another National Park and another stamp.  It's also completely free.  We have bought Subway salads for lunch to eat a picnic at the park.  There's a cooler here in the condo for us to use.  It might rain in the afternoon, so spending that time inside Ripley's should work out great.

Tonight we need to start cleaning up the condo and doing laundry to prepare to leave tomorrow morning by 10 a.m.  We have to check in to the Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville and have lunch in time to attend a 1 p.m. session at the NARFE FedCon18.  Because we have to do so much to get out tomorrow morning and go to Jacksonville, I'm not going to write a blog tomorrow.  Today's adventures and pictures will be posted eventually from Jacksonville.

Here's pictures from yesterday.

Statue of Henry Flagler outside what was built as the Ponce De Leon Hotel and is now Flagler College.

You had to be invited to stay here by Flagler and book for the entire season, December through May, at a cost of $9,000 for the season.  In today's dollars that would be a $250,000.

In the huge ladies' sitting room, there is this wall clock.  The center is the largest single piece of white onyx in the Western Hemisphere.

Dome of Tiffany glass in the lobby.

Dining room for the guests is surrounded by Tiffany glass.  He was a young, unknown artist at the time, but now the windows are surrounded inside and out with bullet proof glass because the windows are valued at over 3 million!n This is the student dining room now at the college, how beautiful for them.  When Flagler ran the hotel, he had his own private entrance into the dining room.  He also had one waiter per guest!

Across the street was another hotel that eventually Flagler bought.  He built recreational amenities like a pool and tennis courts in it because the Flagler Hotel had none.  Now it's a museum. In front of it is this statue of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the Spanish explorer who landed on St. Augustine in 1565.  The Catholic priest with him claimed the land in "the Name of God."  So today there's a large cross on the spot, a Church, and a free museum.

There are many beautiful Victorian homes in old St. Augustine.  Most are in the area called Lincolnville, the historic black neighborhood.

There was a Subway next door to the Whetstone Chocolate Factory, so we got off here and saw this sign.  We were intrigued because this seemed like an oxymoron.  

After lunch, we went in and bought one.  It did taste like hot chocolate only in a slushy form.

Even Mark tried some.

Then on to the Castillo de San Marco.

Because there was thunder rolling around, the upper level by those guardhouses was closed off today.  

It's a National Park, so I got my stamp!

The fort is made of coquina, which can actually absorb cannonballs.  The fort has never been defeated.

It was under five different flags overs the years.  

The thunder caused the cannon firing to be cancelled, too.  

Sitting on the sea wall waiting for the trolley to come.

Yesterday when the trolley drove down this street, we were told it's considered one of the most beautiful streets in the country. Today there was a bride and groom posing for wedding photos.  Cool.

At Denny's there was a new flavor I had never heard of, horchata.  I was able to get a scoop of it to try for dessert.  It's very creamy and custardy because there is rice in it.  It also has a cinnamon flavor.  Nice.