Christmas in St. Augustine, FL

I read recently in a travel magazine that St. Augustine, FL was ranked as one of the 10 best cities in the USA as a place to celebrate Christmas. After spending this Christmas season aboard the White Pepper in St. Augustine at the Rivers Edge Marina I can hardily agree.

The festivities begin on the Night of Lights when the central park—Constitution Square—is illuminated with thousands of white lights. The local businesses all put up white lights as well. The effect is marvelous. I had read that the city puts in one red light among all of the white ones—just because. Imagine my surprise when I spotted not one, but two red lights.

Constitution Square festooned with white lights

Waterfront illuminated

Two red lights among 10000 white ones

There is a lighted boat parade on the Metanzas River on Saturday night. The old fort held a free open house that night as well. I have never seen the downtown area more crowded. The tourist trolleys were packed full with everybody singing along and shouting “Merry Christmas.” It was a great atmosphere but with a cost. There was a 2 hour wait for dinner. Even getting a beer was a struggle. Next time Jan and I resolved to bring a flask.

Lighted Boat Parade

White Pepper was decorated although sparingly. Jan stores all of our Christmas decorations in a one gallon Zip Lock bag. Back in Beeville a whole closet can barely hold the Christmas decorations.

Our Christmas tree and manger scene

Sort of a wreath

Christmas Eve was not as crowded down town as the night of the boat parade. A local church provided carols. We went to the evening service at the Methodist Church. Then back at the boat Jan cooked a wonderful dinner topped off with a bottle of good white wine.

 Sacred readings and carols from the band stand

Mahi mahi smothered in shrimp

We spent a quiet Christmas Day at the marina. Paul, the dock master, organized a buffet. It was great although much smaller than many similar events all up and down the Eastern Florida coast.

Christmas Day pot luck and buffet.

Surprisingly New Year's Eve downtown was sparsely attended—almost empty. Later I learned that 35,000 people had gone to St. Augustine Beach to watch the fireworks there. We came back to the marina to sit around the campfire. By “cruisers midnight” (10:30) we were sound asleep. On New Year's Day we took a break from doing chores around the boat. We spent most of the day listening to football on the Sirius XM radio.

Green Cove Springs to St. Augustine

White Pepper was in surprisingly good shape after 18 months in the storage yard (actually 2 years save for a quickie trip to St. Augustine in the spring of 2018). She was fairly dry, and the only obvious damage was a missing Windex at the mast head. All of the electronics worked except for the autopilot. The engine started up on the first try. The dingy still had air in it.

The yard was particularly crowded this year.

John, the new crew chief

Jan and I were sad to leave Green Cove Springs Marina. We had been there for 8 years. We had grown to know the crew and trusted them with the boat. The yard was incredibly dirty and crowded, but we had grown fond of the atmosphere. However, the boat was headed back to Texas and it was unlikely that she would ever be this way again.

Green Cove Springs Marina

We had a bitter sweet last trip down the St. Johns in beautiful weather. It had been such a thrill to sail up the river in 2010. The current was in our favor for once. We swept past Jacksonville at 8 or 9 knots. We easily made Sisters Creek at the intersection of the St. Johns River and the ICW. The city of Jacksonville maintains a free dock at Sister Creek. It makes for a perfect overnight stop although the current is fierce at times.

Underway on the St. Johns

The railroad bridge

A last look at the Main St. Bridge

Danes Point Bridge in the distance

Free dock at Sisters Creek

Sunrise at Sister's Creek

The next morning we started down the familiar trail of the Pablo Creek and then the Tomato River to St. Augustine 30 nm. South. We took a mooring ball at St. Augustine to await a favorable time to enter the San Sabastine River. The next morning we docked uneventfully at the St. Augustine River Marine Center. We had a bottom job scheduled. We left the boat there and returned to Texas for an important medical appointment at MD Anderson Hospital.

The lift at St. Augustine Marine Center is quite a bit larger than at Green Cove

A second trip to Europe--Germany, Paris and Central France

What a joy it is to see a country through the eyes of a native. After a year Jan and I were privileged to return to Europe. This time we had niece, Hannah, with us. The natives that helped us in Germany were Sandra and Jens. We had met them in the Jumentoes, Bahamas and formed a solid friendship. Since we last saw each other Sandra had had a baby boy, Noah, who we want to see. We all flew into Berlin. Jens took us to his favorite lake front restaurant on the Havel river/lake, where he leaned how to sail. How far it seemed from this small, quiet lake to being able to circumnavigate the Atlantic.

Noah and Jens

Quiet afternoon on Lake Havel

Jens and Sandra showed us their Berlin including their home and where they went to eat. We were able to appreciate Berlin so much more than the usual tourist fare. But as for tourist stuff the East Side Gallery, Check Point Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate were terrific. We found a riverside beer garden and spent a lot of time there.

Most famous mural at the East Gallery. The East Gallery is made up of murals painted on the old Berlin Wall

Check Point Charlie is now a T-shirt shop

                                               Brandenburg Gate without the wall

Hannah had a particular interest in museums. I was surprised to learn that Berlin has a rich museum culture all concentrated on Museum Island, an island on the Spree river.

Museum Island

The Pergamon Museum in particular had a awesome display of antiquities from the ancient middle East. The Ishtar Gate was reconstructed with 5000 crates of artifacts gathered from old Babylon. I think that Abraham may have passed through this gate at one time. The Miletus Gate, a Roman artifact was almost as overwhelming.

The Ishtar Gate

The Miletus Gate

Hannah gets ready to board the fast train to Paris

We took the fast train to Paris. It was remarkable to see the speedometer in the railway car read 250 km/hour as the country side whizzed past. This was our second visit to Paris and it seemed familiar. It was Hannah first visit so we hit the usual haunts—Montmontre and the Sacre Coeur Basilica, the hop on and hop off bus, a walk along the Left Bank, and a river boat tour on the Seine. Regrettably the Nortre Dame remained closed after the tragic fire of several months previously.

The hop on hop off bur

Scaffolding over Norte Dame

However, for Hannah, the high point was a visit to the Louvre. While she took off at high speed to see as much as possible in 8 hours, Jan and I were able to take a leisurely second look at the Louvre. In the basement is a remarkable display of 6000 year old pottery. There were artifacts from Ur, which is possibly the first empire that ever existed, over 5000 years ago. On the third floor is a display of famous impressionist paintings. I estimated that in one particular room alone the auction value of the paintings on display was over one billion dollars—and not a guard in sight.

The Lecture by Renior

6000 year old pottery

After seeing Hanna off on the plane, Jan and I took the train to Paray Le Monial in central France to meet our friends—Gillian and Philip. They had moved their converted sailboat/canal boat, Zubenel, this far along the Bourbince River.

Zubenel

 

The plan was to lock over the mountain pass and gain the Rhone River on the way to Lyon. This remarkable lock system was completed in the 1880s. It connected the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean. This canal was once a mighty artery of commerce in 19th century France.The drought and lack of water in the mountain canal put a stop to this plan. We were able to travel to Genelard and then Montceau-les-Mines before being brought up short by low water. Since the trip to Lyon was canceled we explored the surrounding countryside. I was very interested in our trip to Cluny. Cluny was a monastery that figured very prominently in Medieval history. The first crusade was launched from the pulpit of Cluny. Sadly there is almost nothing left of what was once the largest church in Christendom. It was dismantled by the French Revolutionaries. A trip Beaune was interesting. Beaune is a tourist stop in the heart of Burgundy country. The entire town is devoted to the wine trade. The town of Montceau-les-Mines put on a dynamite Bastille Day fireworks display that went off directly over the Zubenel.

This is all that is left of the entrance to the Cluny cathedral

Ladies in France wear red, white and blue ribbons in their hair on Bastille Day

At this point a serious illness intervened. I became quite ill with an intestinal infection. We were able to get to Lyon by train. From there Jan dragged me across the Atlantic. Back in Texas I had to go into the hospital for 3 days to get my kidneys restarted after some sepsis and dehydration. Thus was the sorry end to an otherwise wonderful trip.

Very ill in Lyon



Paris

What to do with three days in Paris before the time comes to take the plane home? Especially since neither Jan nor I had ever been to Paris. Many books have been written about what to do in Paris. But knowing we could only scratch the surface, here is our journey.

The Arsenal Marina in the heart of Paris. Zubenel is about half way down on the right.

First stop was to wander over to Notre Dame which was only a short walk from the marina. Notre Dame is so important to the French psyche that the plaza in front of the cathedral is mile zero when measuring the highway distance from Paris.

Iconic

We have learned that a quick way to get a feel for the city is to take one of the open air 'hop on hop off' tour buses. These give a quick if superficial tour of the city. From this vantage we went up and down both sides of Seine and caught a glimpse of the opera house---site of Phantom of the Opera. We hopped off along the Champs Elysees for lunch and a visit to the Arc de Triomphe.

The Opera House as seen from the bus.

Note the gold leaf on the bridge decorations.

On the last stop of the bus tour we hopped off to explore the Eiffel Tower. We spent 2 hours waiting in three lines, but finally got to the top. It was well worth the effort. I have to admit to a bit of vertigo in the elevator and at the top. We bought a glass of champagne to and took a selfie. The view was amazing.

Worth the effort to get to the top.  Mr. Effiel lived here and used the stairs every day.

I got dizzy looking down.  Jan was fine.

Another full day was devoted to the Louvre. By the way it is highly advisable to buy your tickets online and in advance. The Louvre has to be on everyone's bucket list even if you don't enjoy art. The scene at the Mona Lisa was comical because of the crowds but I least now we can say we saw her. In every room there were pictures that said, “OMG, I've seen that before in pictures!” You can look up all the pictures in art books, but I do want to show you the “Raft of the Medusa” which seems appropriate for a sailing blog. And finally “Winged Victory.” This statue somehow provokes an emotional response that is difficult to explain. I felt it and had to force myself to leave her.

Mona Lisa mob scene.  It was like this all day.

The Medusa.  Sort of like Wednesday night races?

There is a remarkable power in Winged Victory

One whole morning was devoted to a visit to the Pere Lachaisse cemetery. This is an old urban cemetery that served Paris for most of the 19^th and early 20^th century. Jim Morrison is buried there as well as Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. Jim Morrison's grave is said to be the fourth most visited site in Paris. As you can see it is modest memorial.

Jim Morrison's grave

Oscar Wilde's grave

For me the highlight of the visit was an evening tour of Montmontre and the Sacre Couer Church. Montreal was the old red light district but has been gentrified. The Sacre Couer (Sacred Heart) Church is a newish church that was built on the highest hill in Paris (Montmontre) as a memorial to the WWI dead. The church seems little used but the views of Paris from the church steps are spectacular.

Paris at dusk from Montmontre

Many young people gather on the steps of Sacre Couer in the evening to picnic and sing.  What were they singing this night? Johnnie Be Good!

Finally we had to say good bye to our friends, Jillian and Philip, and return to the USA. After such a short stay in Paris the only reasonable thing to do is to resolve to return.