Today we drove through most of Florida, which is a very long state. We stopped at the Stephen Foster Museum and saw dioramas of his popular songs and also a piano with a very strange keyboard. There was supposed to be a carillon concert at noon, and we got there just in time to hear it, but then they informed us that the carillon wasn't working. At least the blooming azaleas were gorgeous. We also saw the Suwannee River; the roadsigns for it all had the first few bars of music from the famous song on them, but unfortunately there was no safe place to pull off and take a picture of this for you. We had lunch at Sonny's Bar-B-Q, another Southern chain, and they didn't have catfish on the menu but they did serve it to us. What a relief, because on a Lenten Friday there wasn't really anything else on the menu that we could eat. We drove to St. Augustine and spent a couple of hours looking around the city; we got there too late to tour the old fort, but we did walk around it, and we discovered an Eastern Orthodox shrine to St. Photius on one of the old streets. The Basilica was shut for a private event when we first got there, but they opened at six for Stations of the Cross, and they use the same booklet we do back home! St. Augustine is a very touristy place with lots of boutiques like they have in Galena. We walked around the campus of Flagler College, which has the same beautiful Spanish architecture, and their carillon played some music for us - it even played "Michelle" by the Beatles! But no Stephen Foster songs. Then we drove forever to get to the southern part of the state. Now we are near Fort Lauderdale. Tomorrow we get on the ship!
Here are some pictures from today. This is the piano with the weird keyboard, invented by a Hungarian, that was at the Stephen Foster Museum.
The azaleas were so beautiful in front of the trees dripping with Spanish moss.
The famous Suwannee River.
The National Shrine of St. Photius.
The old fortress in St. Augustine.
The inside of the Basilica of St. Augustine.
This church was beautiful too. It is Presbyterian.
A couple of shots of beautiful Flagler College.
And finally, a movie of the Flagler College carillon, not playing "Michelle."
Famous Hat
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