And the children admired the gorgeous rotunda roof.
(Charlottesville has its own Rotunda, designed by Thomas Jefferson, on the UVA campus. As a salute to that famous structure, the UVA regional airport has a little rotunda, too. Joe said, "This roof is like the one at the airport!" And it's true, at least in shape, if not general magnificence.)
Isaiah, true to form, found a gecko and managed to get it on to his arm. More power to him.
After a stop at a museum with reputedly the oldest rug in the world (an ancient Egyptian cat rug, I think made of cat hair!), and an eclectic collection that we zipped through, we enjoyed cookies for a snack.
We opted not to go in to the glass museum, though that foyer was elaborate and lovely—a good option, I would guess, for those without so many children.
Then we walked up St. George Street, which reminded me of several other walking malls I've been on, except perhaps a bit seedier (how does one avoid panhandlers in Florida's mild climate?). We did stop at the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse.
That was interesting, to see the pounded shell floor and the wooden pegs. Made of rot-resistant cedar, that building has stood for ... a long time.
My biggest frustration with St. Augustine was that I never felt like I had a handle on what exactly happened there in history. I wanted a sense of First Peoples, then Spanish colonials, then something else, all attached to rough dates. But instead I have snippets of history, apropos of nothing.
Perhaps it is a city that needed to be savored, not hurried through with more than a dozen other people, always knowing that fatigue, hunger, and general boredom would hit someone sooner rather than later. Snippets of pleasure, wrapped in a robe of fatigue and frustration, that's what I remember most.
(Again thank you to my sister-in-law for the lovely photos.)
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