Visit to St Augustine Wildlife Reserve

Following a nice breakfast at the Hotel we headed back to St Augustine for the second time in two days. So why did we stop in Jacksonville and its because the Hotels are about 50% cheaper and we could get a Homewood Suites with the possibility of in suite cooking which suites us.
It took about forty minutes to get with a mile or so of the reserve and as it was very cold , about 4 degrees Centigrade, we found a sports bar and enjoyed a port chop and fries for Noel and pork chops and a rice dish for Jennifer, the pork chops were really juice, tender and tasty.

The St Augustine Wildlife reserve was set up many years ago to save the lives of animal which would otherwise be killed. Rich Americans and other purchase these mostly big cats and then find they are to big and dangerous to keep and look to move them somewhere else and so they have accumulated about 30 big cats, together with wolves and many other types of animals. So anything that somebody doesn't want they come here including two big cats from The Michael Jackson estate and there was also a black leopard which had been used in a Las Vegas show. We spent about two hours looking around the site and the tour guide really gave a good account about each animal. One amusing thing is that they give the big cats a bubble bath every two weeks, as it makes them smell nice and keeps the flies away and they really enjoy it. There was also a bear that had been so badly physically treated it was scare of everything and been fed the wrong food and was twice e the weight it should have been, but since they have had it it lost weight and beginning to recognise the care and friendliness of the staff and no so shy.

For reasons that I understand they do not allow cameras or mobile phones in the animal area as the sounds of mobile phones ringing or perhaps camera flash guns going off would disturb the animals but we purchased a small USB drive with lots of photos.
We left the site around 16.15 and headed back to the Hotel and slightly later joined the Hotel organised ‘Social’ is what they call it and u get free beer and wine and there is some free food, limited choice, but enough for many American to have up to three burgers together with mac’n’cheese and some salad, and some people went m=back more than twice. On our part we had a couple of glasses of wine and talked to the bar tender and then back to the room for a chicken salad.
We watched TV for a while and caught up with the end of the find we gave up on the other night.

A day long visit to St Augustine Florida Historic Town

We were a little slow off the mark this morning as still suffering from time change but after breakfast we headed back South to visit the very famous historic old town of St Augustine.

St. Augustine is a city on the northeast coast of Florida. It lays claim to being the oldest city in the U.S., and is known for its Spanish colonial architecture as well as Atlantic Ocean beaches like sandy St. Augustine Beach and tranquil Crescent Beach. Anastasia State Park is a protected wildlife sanctuary. The Castillo de San Marcos is a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress with views of the St. Augustine Inlet. founded in September 1565. For more details see following link about this fascination old town.
Info on St Augustine
We arrived in St Augustine just before midday and collected our tickets for the train ride around the old town and this takes about 1.5 hours. The Driver on our trip had married a woman from Suffolk which he had visited several times and loved the UK, who doesn't.

His commentary on the journey was really excellent and quite humorous at times and it made for a very interesting trip. Unfortunately the earlier sun had disagreed and we reached the end of the trip, we could go round again we decided we were a bit to cold.
The train ride takes in all the important locations and there some beautiful buildings here and it really worth a visit if you can manage it some time. A video of the train ride is linked below.

By this time we were getting hungry but were also wanting to visit the offshore Island and then use the road back to our Hotel alongside the sea. We found a Publix store where they do great sandwiches and then sat in the car park to demolish them. At around 15.00 we headed North passing house after house right by the sea and we wondered how they would survive a really big hurricane and there was a real mixture of old and new house styles and then on the opposite side of the road blocks of mostly new Condos.

we arrived in the town of Sawgrass and there were some lovely housing estates and really attractive shopping malls, if you can say that, and finally arrived back in to the Hotel just before 17.00 and little tired. In the Hotel they provide each evening a convivial hour with free wine or beer and some snacks but we are still a little tired and chose to avoid but in the meantime Noel wanted to read the instruction book on the BMW 530 to understand what all the buttons and icons mean. This car has what they call I-Drive which is an Apple invention which means its to complex and many things are unnecessary and I would not by this car for this reason alone.
We still had some of the excellent Costco chicken left and so with a salad and a glass of Chardonnay , £6.00 for 1.5 litres is pretty good value for money for the wine.
Noel caught up on some blogging for the first couple of days but thought he would leave todays trip until tomorrow morning when less tired and so we are in bed by 9.30 pm no doubt to awake early.

Lets head North

Well the rain had stopped and we had our Hotel supplied breakfast which is always a little basic but enough to quell the hunger and took the Hotel shuttle bus back to the Airport for us to visit the Alamo Car rental company to pick up our Toyota Camry or similar, as they say. Anyway after a lot of banter with the staff member he upgraded us with a little extra cash on our part to a BMW 530 which was brand new and only done about 480 miles. Oh well a little bit of luxury does no harm and we are due to travel quite a few miles and so we will do so in a very comfortable car.

We located the car  in the garage and then discovered it had its own Satnav which looked a little complicated but we persevered for a while and then settled to use the one we had brought with us. However we could not easily find how to turn off the BMW one and so for the first few miles they were arguing about turning left or right so after a while we located a quiet place to stop and re adjust everything. We had decided to stay off the highways and stay on the main roads as they are more interesting as you go through towns  etc . We had to travel approx 160 miles today and about 13.00 stopped for lunch in a Subway restaurant, which are always good value and easy to digest.
As we approached Jacksonville we instructed the Satnav to take us to Costco

where we could  purchase some wine and few other things and also a cooked chicken which we would have tonight for dinner. The advantage of the Homewood Suites chain is that all the suites have a mini kitchen with hot plates and microwave and crockery etc and so its easy to cater for your self. After Costco we then went to the Publix Supermarket just across the road for the hotel and we arrived there about 18.30, a little later than we wanted but that's life.

We checked in to the Hotel and had a shower then followed by Chicken and salad with a glass of Costco Chardonnay to wash it down and then settled down to watch a film on the TV but we were beginning to sag and so gave up half way in to the film which was called, “ The shape of Water” which was quite interesting and worth perhaps watching the complete film.
And so to bed, Oh boy do we need this…

The Shape of Water ...

Off to sunnier climes we hope

After an overnight in the Hampton Hotel at Gatwick we grabbed our suitcases and walked across the bridge to the main North terminal and were quickly checked in , less than five minutes, oh the the pleasures of travelling in business class.
In the Virgin lounge we had a good breakfast and read the Sunday newspapers and then we had arranged for a people carrier to collect us as Noels knees were a little troubling after carrying suitcases around the house and airport terminal and this was a good decision as the gate was at least ten minutes away for somebody with good walking skills. we boarded the Virgin B747-400 which was named ‘Jersey Girl’

and settled in to our seats for the 9.5 hour flight to Orlando. The flight left pretty much on time but we had quite a lot of rough weather for several hours which was, according to the flight crew, completely unexpected. It was perhaps one of the roughest flights we have had since flying across India in a monsoon, its amazing how bumpy and noisy it is at 36000 feet when the rain suddenly hits and the aircraft lurches all over the place.You could spill your drink!!
However Noel had a few slight challenges food wise and tried a couple of dishes and settled on the last fillet steak which by this time was rather dry, and so it was a steak and six small bits of carrot and a couple of bread rolls which kept him going not forgetting a couple of glasses of Chardonnay sitting with Jennifer at the bar.

We arrived in Orlando Airport and I was then beginning to worry how long it would take to get through immigration and it it was brilliant and it put Seattle and Fort Lauderdale airports to shame and was on a par with New York Newark Airport. From getting off the aircraft to getting the luggage was about 35 minutes which we thought was excellent. So then to try and find the Hotel shuttle which we did and in the heavy rain it took us to the Homewood Suites

Hotel about ten minutes from the Airport. After a quick wash and freshen up we walked next door toe the Long Horn Steak House where we both enjoyed a nice sirloin steak and baked potato, salad and broccoli and couple of glasses of wine for under £ 40.00 including tip. You cant get anything at this price in Weybridge.

And so to bed

BREXIT- A constitutional crisis- Well done Mrs May

Whether you are for or against the BREXIT that the UK public have opted and voted for is not the discussions here. What is important is where you have the so called people representative who are known by the term Members of Parliament who did not like the British people voting when they felt they should be making the decision.
With Mrs Mays efforts to try and please some of the people part of the time and all of the people all none of the time she has succeeded in upsetting just about everybody in the UK. The conservatives are in a complete shambles and only to be outdone by Labor Party. There are no other parties of substance at this time other than these two.
There many MP's calling for a new vote, I am not sure why unless its the best vote out of ten that wins. They also call it a 'Peoples vote' which is what I thought had happened!.
A number of my friends, no names who did in fact vote to remain have changed their views on the EU following the way in which the EU have also handled the negotiations. Its all about the money that will be lost and nobody else in Europe wishes to pay more and so lets try and hang on to UK by causing mayhem.
There are over 139 EU Embassies around the world fully staffed with expensive personal based in very expensive offices, WHY OH WHY DO WE/THEY NEED THESE EMBASSIES when all of the EU countries have their own embassy there anyway.
And now a European Army, what for?? who are they going to attack ,maybe perhaps its England once we have left the EU
Many countries in Europe are all having second thoughts about the EU and the people are speaking with demonstrations around Europe and governments being changed.

SO LETS JUST GET OUT AND DO OUR OWN THING LIKE WE USED TO DO. AND WE DID IT VERY WELL IF YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER.