St. Augustine - Day II

Day Two.

Attraction time.

We passed our first night at the Pirate Haus without incident - no ghosts, no poltergeists, no bed wetting - and everyone was well-rested. While the girls slept in (and took their usual , I snuck out early to see the sunrise over the old city. Walking around, having a nice pipe, and exploring the empty streets of the historic district.

Good times:

The Lions Bridge

Old alley leading from the munitions depot to the harbor

The inlet that passes before the fort

Charlotte Street

The local coffee house

Hippolyte Road

Some guy with a load vacuum thingy cleaning St. George Street...

More of St. George Street

When I got back to the room, the girls had finished up getting ready for the day. They got to try out their complimentary in-house, Pirate Haus Pancakes, courtesy of Captain Conrad himself:

Reading together (sort of)

Mongo's pancake

I'm pretty sure this was left in the garbage untouched

You wouldn't believe what she had to do for all these beads.

The main attraction of the day was the infamous Castillo de San Marco. I was definitely looking forward to this more than any other attraction in St. Augustine:

A model of the fort's layout. This is a pretty common design for 15th - 17th century forts - the corners allow cannons to be placed in almost any direction, and the walls are lower than the previous castles of the late medieval era (high walls were terrible against gun powder).

The Castillo de San Marcos

Approaching the forecastle (gatehouse)

The Houghs cross the drawbridge that leads into the main fortress square from the forecastle

The courtyard square of the Castillo de San Marcos

Kris!

...and again (handsome photographer at left)

One of the fort's long-range cannons

Carving in the stone wall of the fort's barracks, supposedly in Spanish. Historians can't figure out what the hell is means, though.

Yours Truly, armed, as usual, with his trusty camera phone and old man hat.

Interior walls of the fort

The Cannonball scales the stairs leading up to the parapet.

Abby mans the cannons

...hey, there's Kris!

The courtyard, from the parapet.

Some more cannons on the parapet.

Checking out one of the rifle towers

View from one of the rifle towers

More cannons.

The fort overlooking the inlet

Eastern wall

Eastern wall, again

Taking a break

These kids were obsessed with hurling themselves off the fort's walls.

Two guys that love to play dress up

Drawbridge leading to the fort's forecastle/gatehouse

Inside the fort - a lot of the rooms look like this. Pretty sure this one was a storehouse.

Kris checking out another room.

The pipe aficionado and a bunch of 17th or 18th century, British tavern pipes

We didn't stick around for the demonstration.

Family portrait (courtesy of some chick)

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An old Spanish tavern - unfortunately it didn't open until noon. Stupid social norms...

Having a snack back at the room

Taking a nap

Back in the saddle

Plaza courtyard on St. George Street

Alayna trying on some sunglasses

Statue of Ponce de Leon - first European to set foot on American soil, near St. Augustine, in 1513. He led expeditions into Florida, searching for the Fountain of Youth. Fifty years later, another conquistador, Melendez, constructed the Castillo de San Marcos and established the settlement of St. Augustine.

More Ponce.

Kris. Bein' happy.

The Cannonball tries out a relic from the distant past...

...which, of course, doesn't work.

The Ghost Train...?

Imperial a-holes.

Alayna refers to Star Wars as 'Robots.' Despite the fact that they're droids, not robots.

West of the market plaza - where most of the oldest residential houses in St. Augustine are found. Pricier souvenir stores over on that side of the historic district - not really the sort of gift shops you haul a stroller into.

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In the evening, we decided to hit up the Pirate Museum of St. Augustine. It features a ton of antiques and rarities - including the world's only remaining pirate flag, and one of two known authentic pirate treasure chests. It also has on display several weapons and nautical instruments used by famous pirates, and admission was only $11 per adult.


What infuriated me was the fact that they prohibited cameras.

That's right. No cameras were allowed in the museum (these images here I found online). I was furious. As a huge pirate enthusiast, and an avid photographer, this was a double kick in the nuts. But, as you're about to see, I found a clever way around the whole 'no camera' thing - I snuck a few videos from my phone on the sly. They're not that great, and they're short (I had to tap into my ninja stealth skills and be quick) but they do show some of the biggest features of the museum.

Enjoy the top secret videos, folks (and screw you, Pirate Museum - you suck).

The Cannonball uses an interactive touch-screen tome to learn more about famous pirates.

The last Jolly Roger in existence.

The sword and flintlock pistol of Thomas Tew.



A blunderbuss belonging to Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard).



One of the two surviving, authentic pirate treasure chests (this one also belonging to Thomas Tew).

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There you have it, folks. Day II of the Hough's St. Augustine Adventure. Stay tuned for the final installment.

- Captain Hough