Heading south.. to Florida

My 4:30am shuttle arrived on time, always a good start to such an early morning... it was raining in New York and the Super Shuttle driver didn't say "hello"or "wow, how is that weather?" he just grabbed the handle of my suitcase yelling "help me, help me help me" - I was trying Mr. Shuttle man! While he shoved my case into the back of the van. I climbed into the full van of weary looking travelers "morning" "morning" "hi" "hey" ahh finally some polite love. I shared the back seat with an older lady who was just as preppy as I. Nice!

Quick check in, inevitable reshuffle of heavy items from my suitcase to my handbag (I was pushing my luck most of the way really, luckily my young and helpless appearance gets me through these moments) and onto the plane to Jacksonville - arriving around 11.

Bad weather from New York made my view, well, boring.. only one thing to do..

Do what the Telly tells you and have a cup of tea. Perfick!

And it wasn't long till I was in Jacksonville with my WONDERFUL family there, My Aunt Avril, her Pennsylvanian husband and great conversationalist Dennis. The bright book lover Liam and the upcoming musician extraordinaire Torin. What a great bunch!

Please appreciate how much my Mum and her younger sister Avril are alike! Avril truely was just like mum.. just with an American accent :D

So the first full day I was in Jacksonville Dennis took me for a drive (just and hour or two) to Florida Universtity - Home of the GATORS! (that's for all the football fans). Torin plays trumpet in his school band (they are quite good I must say) and they were competing in the Florida State competition. This is the beautiful hall where they played - check out the huge pipes in the background! The sound was great!

There's Torin - just left of the redhead. You big stud!

So the second day Avril had taken the day off work so we went exploring St Augustine, a little rustic town, full of history. Check out the beautiful weather!

The oldest Wooden school house in the USA!

The Spanish Quater

Greek Orthodox Church

Then just across the carpark was the Castillo Fort

All of the walls are made from crushed shells which meant that if the fort was more resistant to attack.

And out again

But I couldn't leave without one more look at the little streets to pick up some souveineirs

If only we could have got a ride home in the back of this little number

But before heading home we stopped off at this beautiful part of the river. Check out the beautiful moss that hangs from the trees - it just looks so 'southern' I loved it!