From Sea To Shining Sea

St Augustine

I got my first view of the Atlantic last night here in America's oldest city. Even though it was dark when I got here it was easy to make out the white horses in the harbour, and impossible to avoid the fearsome wind fairly whipping in off the sea.

At the hostel I stumbled in on a cheese and wine party, which was a pleasant surprise. After a while everyone went out to the local fort to see the annual re-enactment of the siege by the British in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. A whole load of guys were dressed up in period Spanish costume and they let a few cannons off. Some people in redcoats half-heartedly fired some muskets back from outside. After about half an hour we got bored and went to the pub. Despite my shouts of encouragement, it didn't look like the Brits were making much progress in storming the place. All those years ago they failed miserably to take the fort, but made sure of burning the whole town down before buggering off back to the Carolinas. I'll try to make a better impression than they did.