Not long ago we ventured north from Orlando to visit the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. It’s nesting season up there and we wanted some new bird images. While we were there, we walked through St. Augustine’s old town.
You may know that St. Augustine prides itself as being the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the U.S. The debate continues though, because the town of Taos, New Mexico, maintains that it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in America. The difference being the word, “European.”
In any case, we enjoy St. Augustine and can always find something interesting when we visit. Take a look at our brief video and see what you think.
The old town at in St. Augustine is a prime tourist attraction these days, with the restaurants, bars, and shopping, but it’s easy to see that this place has history. It’s a fun walk about town and always worth some time.
One of the nearly half million flowers planted during the Flower and garden Festival is the Amaryllis, seen here in the United Kingdom pavilion. Photo by Don Fink.
The 25thEpcot International Flower and Garden Festival is underway and it’s one of our favorite times at Walt Disney World, especially Epcot. It’s spring in Florida and the weather is usually cooperative; not too hot and humid, and not too much rain and a typical day is in the low ‘80s or high ‘70s.
The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is an annual event at Epcot that showcases, as you might expect by the name, gardening, the earth, and just about anything dealing with flowers, vegetable gardens, and so on.
While Epcot in its normal state is far from a wasteland with it’s typical Disney over-the-top landscaping, the international Flower and Garden Festival is yet another level of excellence. There are over 500,000 plants, trees, and shrubs planted for the Flower & Garden Festival each year. Of those, 250,000 are annual blossoms. And this year, because the festival runs for 90 days, there’ll be two crop rotations to keep the flowers fresh for the entire event. That seems like a lot of effort, but that’s Disney.
There were over 400 horticulturists needed to transform Epcot into the Flower & Garden landscape we see during the festival, and it takes 100 cast members dedicated to maintaining the display.
Lady and the Tramp can be found in Italy. It’s one of our favorite displays because of the flowing grasses that make up Lady’s ears. Photo by Bonnie Fink.
We focused our attention on the topiaries this year at the Flower & Garden Festival, you should remember that there’s plenty to do while you’re admiring the color.
There are 15 outdoor kitchens with over 70 different beverages and 40 featured food items. One outdoor kitchen to be sure to see is the new Honey Bee-stro. It’s located along the walkway from Future World West to Showcase Plaza. The kitchen is sponsored by the National Honey Board and features dishes like their Local Wildflower Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake, with Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream. For a beverage you might try a Honey-Peach Cobbler Freeze, served with Blueberry Vodka.
We can’t forget the Garden Rocks Concert Series. This year you’ll find old favorites like Herman’s Hermits (May 4th through May 7th), but you’ll also see seven new artists. Earlier during the Festival, we saw Jo Dee Messina. Being country fans like we are, this was a treat. She appeared on April 20th and the 21st. Hopefully she’ll return next year, and many of the artists do perform every year.
This year, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival runs until May 28th. If you happen to be in Florida, this is an event worth seeing.
One of our favorite attractions at the International Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot are the topiaries. There are many topiaries that appear year after year, and always fun to see. Videos and stills by Don and Bonnie Fink.
Not long ago we spent a morning walking through Cadiz, Spain. We were in port aboard the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas; one of our favorite cruise lines, and certainly one of our favorite ships.
We’ve been to Cadiz before. It’s one of the more popular stops along the western Mediterranean cruise ship route, or at least it seems that way. What we found was a lazy little town full of shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee houses.
It was definitely worth a bit of time to explore, and definitely worth coming back. So please, take a moment and have a look at the video we prepared showing Cadiz, Spain.
Cadiz, Spain was a peaceful and tranquil town. At least, that’s the way it looked to us. We spent just a brief amount of time here one morning, away from our cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas.
Not long ago, we boarded the Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas in Barcelona. We made a seven night tour around the Mediterranean, stopping in several places along the way. Some of our stops included Marseille, France, Villefranche, France, Florence, the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, in Italy, and back to Barcelona.
We stayed on the ship and used it as our transportation back to Florida, with stops at Cadiz, Spain, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island, and La Palma, Canary Island. We then made our way across to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
We’ve made several Atlantic crossings, and it’s our favorite part of cruising, but it’s not necessarily for everyone. The good thing about an Atlantic crossing for us is that we spend several days at sea. The bad about an Atlantic crossing is that you spend several days at sea, and for some people, it might be a bit much.
Cruising aboard the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. Take a few minutes to see what this great ship has to offer. Photos and Video by Don and Bonnie Fink.
One thing is certain at least for some of us: when you venture into America’s past by visiting Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, what they taught you in grade school about American history is not only a simplified gloss-over of the subject, but in many cases is just plain wrong. While it’s important to see America’s wonders in the southwest, like the Grand Canyon and all the other magnificent parks and forests, it’s at least as important to visit the places where our country started; to see what happened not so long ago that caused this country to be born, and what the circumstances were that allowed her to prosper.
One place that should be on everyone’s “American Adventure” list is Colonial Williamsburg. Operated by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, this destination location is not only a historical lesson, but a resort destination for everyone. There are no thrill rides that tumble and throw people into the air, but there’s a certain thrill in walking down Willimsburg’s main street, seeing the people in costume and talking with people in full Williamsburg character; realizing that you could have actually lived here.
While this colonial city contained British loyalists, rebels and supporters of independence, slaves, and indentured servants, there was a purpose to this community, and even then the people involved must have known how important their choices and actions would be.
In Colonial Williamsburg, you can enjoy a carriage ride around town; much like it was in the 18th century. Photo by Donald Fink
When you think of Williamsburg, your context is probably its involvement with the American Revolutionary War. While the people of Williamsburg were certainly involved, they also represented an extremely successful colonial city. There were trades people working in all the trades necessary to make life in the “Colonies” as sophisticated as anywhere in the world, and the present day Colonial Williamsburg does a complete job depicting American life in this era.
Williamsburg was originally named Middle Plantation, and was established in 1632 (or 1638 depending on which account you read) as a fortification and place of safety for settlers along the York River, on the northern border of the Virginia Peninsula. The location of Middle Plantation was half way between Jamestown, the established location and capitol of the Virginia Colony, and the area of settlement.
The College of William and Mary – In 1693, the College of William and Mary was established by Royal Charter from King William III and Queen Mary II in Middle Plantation, and is currently the second oldest institution of higher learning in America. While contributing significantly to the popularity of Williamsburg, this College was also responsible for educating many of America’s forefathers, including Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler, and sixteen signers of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington received his Surveyor’s Certificate at William and Mary too. In 1779 the College became a University, and claims to be the first University in America. It has been in continuous operation since its beginning except for two occasions. It closed once during the American Civil War due to declining enrollment, and once between 1882 and 1886 due to financial hardships.
In 1976, a campaign debate was hosted between presidential candidates Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and in 1983 a G7 summit conference was held on the campus.
Government Relocates to Middle Plantation – In 1676, during Bacon’s Rebellion at Jamestown, the House of Burgess (capitol building) was burned and the Virginia government was temporarily relocated to Williamsburg. Later, after rebuilding the House of Burgess in Jamestown, another accidental fire again burned the building, and the Virginia Capitol was relocated – permanently this time- to Middle Plantation. The College of William and Mary provided temporary housing while a permanent government building was constructed, and the town was formally named Williamsburg during the relocation in 1699 to honor King William III.
This original building served as the courthouse for the James City County Court and the Williamsburg municipal court. Photo by Donald Fink
American Revolutionary War – Many of the decisions that led to the American Revolutionary War against England were formulated in Williamsburg. In 1775, the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, fearing a rebellion, seized the gunpowder stored in the Williamsburg Armory. While threatening to destroy the city if attacked, Lord Dunmore and the citizens, led by Patrick Henry, arrived at a payment schedule for the gunpowder. Still, this incident was an important part of the circumstances that led to the Declaration of Independence from Britain, and ultimately war.
During the Revolutionary War, in 1780, the capital of Virginia was moved to Richmond because Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson believed that Williamsburg was less secure and more vulnerable to attack. While Williamsburg suffered in terms of loss of business due to government activities, it did continue because of the College of William and Mary.
Williamsburg Revived – As time went on, Williamsburg settled into the role as a sleepy college town, and not much activity occurred compared to its early beginnings as a dynamic, fast moving revolutionary capitol city. Early in the twentieth century, the local Episcopalian Church in Williamsburg was in danger of falling into disrepair. Fearing the loss of a significant historical structure, the Rev Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin set out to restore this building. Having succeeded by 1907, he accepted a transfer to New York. Upon returning in 1923, he was alarmed to discover that most of the rest of the original Williamsburg was also falling down.
Many trades are represented by the various craftsmen that volunteer their time at Colonial Williamsburg. Here a carpenter is making furniture. Photo by Donald Fink
Dr. Goodwin sought financial assistance, and found it with John D. Rockefeller Jr and his wife, Abby. Together, they formed an organization that restored much of the original Williamsburg, and created the largest living museum in America. Today, the original Williamsburg is known as Colonial Williamsburg and is the largest teaching and entertaining tourist attraction in Virginia. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has done a remarkable job preserving this important historical location. While Dr. Goodwin had the original idea of preserving this part our American heritage, and Mr. Rockefeller provided much of the financial support and a significant portion of the original management of the project, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has been able to keep up with the changing times, bringing our history to all who will listen. They have continued to preserve and expand Colonial Williamsburg including many interpretive and outreach programs for visitors and schools.
You can view a larger map by clicking on the “View larger map” link above.
What to do here: Williamsburg is not a complete travel destination by itself, but is certainly worthy of a full day, or even a few days. Another place that shouldn’t escape your plans is Historic Jamestowne. This place is fascinating for many reasons, and certainly deserves a visit. It could easily take a full day to see this great exhibit. There are actually two exhibits at Jamestowne: the fort depicting where the setters lived and worked, and the Indian Village, depicting a typical Indian settlement. Neither are the actual locations, but are very believable representations of actual settlements.
If you end up in Williamsburg, and get to a point where you just can’t take in any more stuffy ol’ American History, you may need a visit to Busch Gardens. Take it from one who lives less than 10 minutes from Disney World, nothing brightens up your outlook more than a day at an amusement park.
Defense was a big part of life in Colonial Williamsburg. Infantry barriers could be put in place quickly to slow the advance of an enemy. Photo by Donald Fink
Take a look at the web site for the town of Williamsburg. There you’ll find several more places to visit and activities in the area from museums, to plantations, even a Ripley’s museum. There’ll be something there for everyone in the family.
There are a couple of good web sites to visit to get better information about Yorktown. The first is the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center, and the second is Historic Yorktown, from the National Park Service. Located just thirteen miles from Williamsburg along the York River, this historical site is import for a number of reasons. While it was an important seaport for exporting tobacco, it is probably best know as the location of the last significant battle of the American Revolutionary War, where the Patriots, aided by French and Canadian troops defeated the British during the Siege of 1781. You can read a brief description of the Battle of Yorktown here on our site.
Recently, we paid a visit to some of Louisiana’s plantation homes along the Mississippi River near New Orleans, and as always, we learned a few things about life in early America that wasn’t taught in our elementary school classrooms.
The American South—particularly the great plantations—is something that’s held our fascination for quite some time. Every time we visit one, we learn more about our country’s history and come away with a deeper understanding about the beginnings of our country. We’re fascinated with the lifestyle of these wealthy landowners, but sobered by the human exploitation that made them possible.
Getting to the Destrehan Plantation is an easy drive from New Orleans along I-10 westward. Turn south along Highway 310 to Destrehan.
Today we’re talking about the Destrehan Plantation. It’s located along the Mississippi River, near the town of, well, Destrehan, about 30 minutes west of New Orleans along I-10.
The Destrehan Plantation has a long and complicated history, but is best known for one of its owners, Jean-Noël Destrehan (1754-1823). Jean-Noël was a key figure in helping the Louisiana Territory transition from French Rule under Napoleon to the United States—and ultimately statehood—after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. You can read more about his political involvement at the Destrehan Plantation site’s Family and Politics page.
By the way, did you know that Louisiana uses a system of Parishes instead of counties? A Parish is usually a smaller area than a county and it’s just what it sounds like, an area served by a particular church. And in this case, a Catholic church. Jean-Noël insisted that Louisiana be organized in this manner when it was brought into the United States in order to help preserve some of the original culture of the Creole people.
In addition, Jean-Noël transitioned his plantation from a failing indigo crop to a thriving sugar cane business, with the help of his brother-in-law, Étienne de Boré, who perfected a method of granulating sugar, making it a profitable crop.
Most of these plantation houses use a guided tour to show you their house, and usually let you wander about the grounds on your own. Visiting a plantation like Destrehan is an educational and emotional experience all in one, and one in which we recommend for anyone passing through the area.
Now please, enjoy some of our images of our visit:
We were fascinated a couple of years ago when we visited Rothenburg; so much so that we put it on our list of places to return to next time we were in Germany. This week, we did just that, and the weather was in full cooperation. Last visit, we had only one full day to discover the city and it was a near total wash-out. We left our Nikons in the room and braved the city streets with rain gear and phone cameras, but weren’t too happy about talking our phones out in the rain either.
This time the weather cooperated completely. We budgeted two full days to re-discover this town, and ended up walking as much of it as we could in that time.
If you want to take a walk back in time, you can walk the wall built around Rothenburg in the 13th century. Photo by Donald Fink.
Rothenburg is generally regarded as one of Europe’s best preserved Medieval towns. There are a couple of reasons for this that date back to 1631 when it was occupied by an unfriendly Army, and again a couple of years later when it was ravaged by the Black Plague. There were some tense moments again in World War II, but again the city came out in better shape than many European towns at the time. We wrote about all this in an earlier story, and you can see our remarks in that first article, about Rothenburg. There are some images in that article that we managed to get in between rain that’s worth a look.
Rothenburg sits just southwest of Nuremberg, but it was an easy drive from Frankfurt too. You can click on “View Larger Map” above to see a full page map of the area.
Here’s a quick video showing our impression of the town of Rothenberg. Enjoy.
It’s always fun to cruise on a new ship, and in a lot of ways, even more fun to cruise on a new cruise line. This time we boarded the Celebrity Silhouette in Miami for a seven night trip around the eastern Caribbean. Silhouette is owned by Royal Caribbean, so were we Wowed? Was it better, the same, or a disappointment from our former experiences? Take a look at what we found:
The Boarding Process
One of the things that instantly impressed us was the fact that, since we have a certain status aboard Royal Caribbean, and since Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity, our status was transferred over to Celebrity. For us, we didn’t get much out of the deal, but then again, our status isn’t all that impressive to begin with. But it was fun to be able to board a little early. For some of our cruising friends out there, this could be important since the higher you go, the more you’re recognized. Unfortunately, our stay aboard the Celebrity ship did not increase our status with Royal Caribbean, but did count toward Celebrity. Confusing right?
What We Found
The Hideaway is a quiet spot to relax. If you need a book, there’s a wide selection to choose from. Photo by Bonnie Fink.
We’re used to big ships. If you’ve read any of our other posts, you might remember that we go in for the Wow factor of the Royal Caribbean Oasis, Anthem, and Freedom class ships. We like the big interior promenade.
The Celebrity Silhouette is much smaller. Instead of up to 6,000 guests like some of the monster sized boats, Silhouette carries something closer to 2700. Not small by any reasonable standard, but still much smaller than the huge new ships from Royal Caribbean.
We found the Silhouette to be a classy, well maintained and modern ship with all the amenities we needed. Our room was as big and comfortable as most ships we’ve been on, and even better than some. There were adequate power plugs in the room and we were able to spread out and get things put away the way we like with ample stowage and storage. We were not able to score a kettle for heating water like we usually do on Royal Caribbean, but we were able to use the TV to watch our shows that we brought along on our hard drive.
The ship is reasonably new too. First cruise was in 2012 and she continues to be in good repair and modern in design. We especially liked the design of the buffet restaurant, the Oceanview Café, but more on that later.
Dining
The two deck Grand Cuvee Dining Room. Photo by Donald Fink.
Celebrity uses a dining plan similar to most other cruise ships. You can elect to have an assigned dining table at a specific time each night, or you can reserve a time, even different each night if you want. You can also just walk in to the dining room and get the first available table. You set these options up when you lock in your cruise reservations.
In the classic dining plan, you are assigned a table, along with other cruisers. You may or may not know these folks, depending on your circumstance.
Excursions
As you enter the harbor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, you’ll see the famous fort, Castillo San Felipe del Morro on your left. If you’re on a cruise and happen to stop in Puerto Rico, this is a must-see shore excursion. Photo by Donald Fink.
At the risk of sounding a bit jaded, we usually don’t go on shore excursions when we’re in the Caribbean. It’s not that we have anything against the Caribbean, it’s just that we’ve been travelling in the region for literally decades. There aren’t many things we haven’t seen.
The exception is that when there’s an excuse to scuba dive, we’re there. On this trip we made a shore excursion in St. Thomas to dive a local spot, and while the area has recently been through a major hurricane, we found it to be a good choice. The dive operators were professional and attentive and provided a good diving experience.
This cruise stopped in San Juan, Puerto Rico. One of the classic day tours for this stop is the fort, Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This is an interesting stop, and it’s also a National Park under the US Park Service, so things are a bit familiar in terms of signage, rules, and so forth. It’s also rumored that this fort served as an inspiration for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney.
In this video you can enjoy a few minutes of our impression of the Celebrity Silhouette. Video and Stills by Don and Bonnie Fink.
As we mentioned before, this was our first time cruising aboard a ship from the Celebrity fleet. We have seen the ships many times before as they docked in ports next to other cruises we were on, but we’d never been aboard one.
In a lot of ways, the experience was what we expected because, while cruise lines differ, they are really more alike than they are different. The room was the high quality we expect for a cruise line of this type, the food was better than most, and the amenities aboard the ship seems to be comparable to any modern ship of this size. If this one ship is any judge of the total Celebrity line, they are staying relevant in the 21st century of cruising.
The final question is, will we cruise on Celebrity again? The simple answer is, of course we will. When we find a cruise that goes where we want, when we want, and it happens to be a Celebrity line ship, we won’t hesitate.
