Weekend at St. Augustine –
Visited St. Augustine with my family this weekend, beautiful place with an artistic European flavor. Founded by Juan Ponce de Leon, the city’s historian claim that this city was the first western settlement in America. Hence, Juan Ponce de Leon founded America and not Columbus who landed in Bahamas and never laid foot in the Americas.
Visited the famous Fountain of Youth, and of course drank some water, hopefully brought down my age at least by 2? The city has some great history, Henry Flagler, a real estate and railroad developer and business partner with Rockefeller seems to bet heavily on this city. As a father of Florida, Flagler built railroad connecting New York to Florida. As a shrewd businessman Henry Flagler, promised his high paying aristocrats a winter heaven. During Winter, his rails will load guests in New York and in a mere 35 hours they will be in a hot oasis. During the time when average pay for Americans was 55 cents per day, Henry Flagler built hotels where cost per night were from 5 to 100 dollars. Business was booming and hence he built 2 more such hotels and apparently the country largest swimming pool during that time. I guess Henry Flagler was a trend setter, obviously, Walt Disney has taken it further, and created Disney World and built a multi billion dollar industry around it.
Well, enough history, I can write couple pages on this topic as the city were full of historical events and monuments. Rented a beautiful cottage by the sea, and took some tram ride around the city. They had a beautiful fort, which by itself is very rare in America. There were no special local food; it’s the same old burgers and French fries. My father came with me on this trip, so no talking in the car!! This was OK because I enjoy driving.
Overall had a pleasant trip.
Visited the famous Fountain of Youth, and of course drank some water, hopefully brought down my age at least by 2? The city has some great history, Henry Flagler, a real estate and railroad developer and business partner with Rockefeller seems to bet heavily on this city. As a father of Florida, Flagler built railroad connecting New York to Florida. As a shrewd businessman Henry Flagler, promised his high paying aristocrats a winter heaven. During Winter, his rails will load guests in New York and in a mere 35 hours they will be in a hot oasis. During the time when average pay for Americans was 55 cents per day, Henry Flagler built hotels where cost per night were from 5 to 100 dollars. Business was booming and hence he built 2 more such hotels and apparently the country largest swimming pool during that time. I guess Henry Flagler was a trend setter, obviously, Walt Disney has taken it further, and created Disney World and built a multi billion dollar industry around it.
Well, enough history, I can write couple pages on this topic as the city were full of historical events and monuments. Rented a beautiful cottage by the sea, and took some tram ride around the city. They had a beautiful fort, which by itself is very rare in America. There were no special local food; it’s the same old burgers and French fries. My father came with me on this trip, so no talking in the car!! This was OK because I enjoy driving.
Overall had a pleasant trip.
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