Last weekend, John and I went to visit my parents in St. Augustine, Florida.
(In case you don't know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in America.)
They've been there for a few years now (three?), but we haven't really done a lot of "touristy" things downtown...until now.
But first...let me share with you some super cute pictures of Ray & Jules, my parents' adopted greyhounds.
Here's a close-up of Ray, lounging on the settee in the spare (our) bedroom. Ray's almost 11 and a little bit wobbly. He still LOVES to get his babies (stuffed toys) out and play with them. He's a very sweet dude.
Here he is with his favorite blankie. He loves soft things. I think this is his "no paparazzi" pose.
And this is Ms. Jules. She's younger than her brother from another mother, but has been through a lot in her short life. She broke one of her legs in three places, but was nursed back to health and is now a happy girl living in her adoptive home. As my Mom would says, "She's a pip!"
You don't think Ray loves John, do you? He nestled in next to him and silently demanded he be patted during the entire Bruins game.
And of course, if one's in on the action, the other needs to get in. Jules entered the room and demanded the same attention. Luckily John was kind enough to oblige.
We were in St. Augustine from Thursday-Sunday. On Friday, we decided to go downtown and check out the Oldest City in America. We parked in a garage downtown and walked down St. George St, which has tons of shops, restaurants, museums, etc... We perused a few shops and then headed to a place for lunch.
I didn't take any pics there, so we'll use some stock photos (which won't do it justice) to share. We ate at
Gaufres & Goods (which doesn't have its own website), which is a Polish & Greek restaurant.
I.love.Polish.food. (I'm Polish on my Mom's side, hence the love for it.)
I knew right away what I'd get -- golobki. I had it probably 20-ish years ago at a Polish restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC (of all places), when my parents lived in Durham. My grandmother used to make it and I've loved it ever since.
It's basically boiled cabbage with meat (hamburger) and rice rolled up in it in a tomato sauce. Here's a photo for your information:
Let me just say that it tastes better than it looks!
John and my Mom had pierogies, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with. If you're not, pierogies are a type of dumpling and they can pretty much be filled with anything...cheese, meat, vegetables. They're usually served with sour cream.
My Dad got something called pyzy, which is another kind of dumpling, but made of potatoes and rounder vs. a half moon. It's served with bacon.
After we devoured this amazing food (I'd HIGHLY recommend the restaurant), we headed to the
Lightner Museum. It houses an eclectic collection of items...from taxidermy to Tiffany glass, from stamps to musical instruments and so much more. It's in the original Alcazar Hotel, so many of the rooms tell you what was originally there when it was a hotel (steam room, dining room, etc...)
When we first got there, they were doing a demonstration of antique mechanical musical instruments, which was very interesting. It's amazing to see things that are so tiny that make music and a piece of furniture that basically holds an entire orchestra within it and makes music.
Not a great photo (because I'm in it not once, but twice!), but this is a conch shell with a cameo carved into it. Amazing!
Here's a cradle. Doesn't look too comfy, does it?
While that's the extent of the photos I took indoors, I highly recommend visiting if you're in St. Augustine. (It's inexpensive and very welcoming.)
Here's a photo of the garden type entryway. (Look...in January...it's warm and sunny!)
Needless to say, we had a good/relaxing time.
I'll leave you with this one last photo of Jules. How can that possibly be comfy? I feel like it's a puzzle and you have to figure out which arm/leg/tail to untwist first!
