St. Augustine, Florida

While we were in the area, we decided to spend a little time in St. Augustine as I have not been there in years. It wasn't like I remembered, very run down and old. It is the oldest city in Florida established (for the most part) by Henry Flagler who was a successful business man from the North who made the majority of his money in the Railroad industry. The cool thing about St. Augustine is the history, there is so much of it and it really is fascinating but the buildings and the resturants are all pretty run down and kind of gross. We had hoped to go and take a train ride or trolly ride around the city to take in the sights but by time we arrived after naps, it was too late for much other than dinner and ice cream and a quick stroll around St. George street. My parents wanted to take me to the Santa Maria (?) restaurant on the pier in Manzas bay and I had not been so I was looking forward to it. When we arrived however, it was pretty clear that we were not going to be having dinner there. We got a table pretty quickly but after that, a server never came by with water or bread or even a "hello, I'll be right there". We sat there for almost 15 minutes and asked the hostess twice to send someone over. Finally I said forget it. We were leaving. The service was terrible and I wasn't too upset as it was a really old place with the shlack (?) tables that just feel gross after many years of use. So, we tried to find another nice spot for my birthday dinner but the wait was too long for Cy and we could decide so I made an executive decision to go to NY Philly's which served great sandwiches and beer in a dixie cup. A far cry from what my mom wanted to do I think but the food was great and I enjoyed it:) After dinner, we strolled around St. George Street and grabbed some ice cream at Kilwin's which was delicious.
I was exhausted from the race and some sleepless nights from the little man so we called it a night early and headed back to the hotel.
The following morning, we went back to St. Augustine to take a train ride around the city to take in all the sights. We also went to the winery there to take a tour and have a tasting before heading to The Villages.