St Augustine - missing a mouse?

Our first day in St Augustine was something of a disappointment, if we're honest.  

They tell you that it's 'ancient', but what they don't tell you is that Disney has forced itself into the cracks between its 450-year-old stones.

We won't go on, but somehow the real history of this place has been supplanted by an anodyne and fake face which finds expression in several Ripley's Believe it or not exhibits and signs straight out of Hogwarts.

Adding an additional p and an e to shop really DOESN'T make it old.

Adding to our disappointment was a message that the rocket launch we were booked in to see was postponed until Saturday, meaning we're unlikely to see it. Over dinner at the excellent Ice Plant, we consoled ourselves with cocktails and waxed philosophical (as you do over cocktails), and planned today.

Which was so much more satisfying. Today, we decided to stick to museums and sights which didn't mind the inonvenience of being old.  Like the Cathedral, which was pretty:

Angels playing the latest Ed Sheeran

And like Government House, whose exhibition on tribal canoes was more interesting than you might imagine, and the strange Villa Zorayda whose exhibits singly would have been lovely but massed together were a bit overwhelming.  It wasn't helped by an audio tour where the man narrating sounded like he was reading with his finger underneath the words....

And we also visited the sumptuous Flagler College. We'll pass over the man himself whose third wife was 37 years his junior and who married her only because he managed to pass a law which allowed him to divorce his second wife who he threw in a mental institution....

But the college is a glorious place, filled with Tiffany glass and originally designed as an hotel for wealthy northern Americans.  

St Helena's was never like this

 Tiffany glass overlooks the sandwiches and fries served for lunch

Welcome to the Hotel California?

Our final stop today was the wonderful St Augustine Distillery. 

This gem of place has taken on the Government and won the right to sell it's locally produced rum, vodka and gin. It's locally owned and its investors were local people.  It uses locally grown sugar cane to produce its spirits, and its aim is to continue to support and work with local farmers. 

By the people, for the people.

Bourbon, in new white oak casks, fermenting nicely.

It is developing a new rum and has produced versions in September (sold out in six days) October (sold out in two weeks) and the next issue is on 7 November. The distillery will take feedback and cogitate before it brings out its final version in 2016.

We tried some of the samples (well, it would have been churlish not to) before walking back to our B&B. We think the line was straight but we weren't that bothered if it wasn't.....

Tomorrow, we hit the road and drive to Jekyll Island.