Pam set up a food tour on July 4, 2021 for her niece in Saint Augustine. The tour guide told me thee would be 6 stops on the tour, so I discuses my sketch page into 6 sections. I knew ther would be little time to sketch so these small thumbnails would have to suffice. We all met at Old City House across the street from The Leitner Museum and City Hall. This was my favorite stop. We were served large shrimp over a bed of mashed potatoes and asparagus. Neither Pam or her niece like shrimp so I got to eat theirs. I was full by the time we left for the second stop on the tour. Historical stories all seems to abound with insanity fueled by laudanum. Henry Flagler’s wife was certifiably instance and he had her institutionalized and then married her nurse.
‘The second stop was Ancient City Brunch Bar where we had pitchers of Sangria and some French toast slices. Here we got to hear out tour guides back story having been born in Chile and being do-ted by Jewish parents in America and moving south to Saint Augustine. The city is small with a crush of tourists. Between stops we stopped in front of a former Woolworths where black sit ins were held in 1964. I hadn’t realized the Saint Augustine was such a epicenter of civil rights activism. I thinks the stories told about the Civil rights era were my favorite on the tour.
We then stopped into Athena’s Greek Restaurant for some flaming saginaki, which is a delicious cheese. The red wine served was strong and bitter but went well paired with the cheese. I didn’t finish my wine, preferring to focus on the sketch. From here we went to a store which had tasting stations to try herb infused olive oils. The several I tried were delicious and Pam picked up several items here. Notably she bought an infused mayonnaise. I note this since I was handed the mayonnaise any time she rummaged through her bag. I leaned my umbrella up against a counter as I sketched knowing this would be a quick stop. We left in a rush and I didn’t have time to get my sketchbook back into my bag.
At the next stop, a cigar store and Cuban Cafe and Bakery, I realized I had forgotten my umbrella. Grey clouds quickly loomed overhead and it started to rain as we sat outside away from the cigar smoke. A trickle became a deluge as we ran through the stone covered streets to put next destination. The guide ran up onto a bed and breakfast porch to tell us a story which was once again about insanity and laudanum. Huge lakes formed on the streets.
The rain let up just a bit and we started our way to the last stop. Pam let me use the small folding umbrella which kept my sketchbook dry. However the sky opened up again and it poured as we ran past a cemetery. Everyone was soaked to the bone. The last stop was a cheese cake store right beside the cemetery. We had three slices to taste, and my favorite was the chocolate one. The walls of the parlor were a deep purple chocolate color. Each cheesecake was paired with a sip of wine.
Pam called the store where I left my umbrella but the damage was already done. The rain had come down so hard at a 45 degree angle so even the large umbrella might not have made a difference.