Nights of Lights

Good Morning (or afternoon or evening as the case may be)!

For Outdoor Wednesday, I'd like to share a special annual event hosted by the city of St. Augustine, Florida, beginning in November and ending the last day of January. I've enlisted the help of my little friend Stella, a cross stitch doll who has been visiting from England and The Cross Stitch House, to act as our tour guide today. So don your walking shoes, and let's view the Nights of Lights...



The tour takes place in the heart of the Ancient City. Just behind Stella is the Plaza de la Constitucion...



Here visitors may stroll the winding sidewalks under a canopy of live oaks that are graced by thousands of lights...



Here's Stella with a full shot of the market at the eastern edge of the Plaza...



As you can tell from the previous photo and the next, in addition to the trees, the city's buildings are also outlined in lights...



In this next shot, Stella points out the terra cotta elements on the towers of the Lightner Museum (the building also houses city offices and other businesses). These architectural elements are amazing to behold, night or day...



And here, Stella points out a beautiful reflection of the building in the pool that fronts it...



The city has also outlined the trunks of palms as seen here behind Stella...



And highlighted the bushes with lights, making the downtown a virtual fairyland...



In addition to the Lightner Museum being reflected in the pool...



If you look to the east, the Casa Monica Hotel is also reflected there...



The Casa Monica was completely restored a few years ago...



And is home to one of Stella's favorite restaurants, 95 Cordova...



And yes, Stella wants you to know that the orb just above the hotel is the moon Mr. Magpie captured for us with his trusty Blackberry...



Directly across the street is Flagler College, formerly the Hotel Ponce de Leon, a magnificent edifice built by Standard Oil co-founder and railroad baron Henry Flagler who was largely responsible for the early development of Florida...



With Louis Comfort Tiffany as the interior designer and the New York firm of Carrère and Hastings as architects, this structure is credited with helping put both the designer and the architects on the map...



And the building is one of the architectural jewels of the city as are the Casa Monica (formerly the Hotel Cordova during the Flagler Era) and the Lightner Building (formerly the Alcazar Hotel during the Flagler era), forming a previous triumvirate of Flagler-owned properties...



At a future date, I'll give you a tour of the interior and more of the exterior of this building which is a true architectural gem. As you can tell, this is Stella's favorite photo-op spot! ;-)





Here she points out Spanish Street, a nod to the city's Spanish founders and hundreds of years of Spanish occupation...



And here is the Prince of Wales Restaurant, a nod to Stella's own British heritage and St. Augustine's twenty year span of British occupation (1763-1783)...



If you look carefully, you can see the Union Jack flying over Stella's head...



And as we turn each corner...



And travel along the bayfront...



We see how St. Augustine gets into the holiday spirit with lights...



Lights...



And more lights...



They even have lights on some of the carriages...



Speaking of which, it's time to climb into a carriage and trot on over to Outdoor Wednesday where you'll see lots of wonderful sights. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Susan for being such a faithful hostess each week, and I'd like to encourage you to join me there by clicking right HERE!


Thank you for visiting me here today, and I look forward to visiting you and seeing what's going on in your world! I'd also like to thank Stella for being the perfect tour guide. You might note that Stella and I had already prepared this blog post long before the unfortunate incident at the Wax Museum. ;-) Stay tuned for Stella's own version of community service...



Warmly,


Mrs. Magpie (Sheila)