Speaking foreign tongues

This morning, after the gym, I went down to the first floor to get a cup of coffee (two cups, actually). Hubby was still in the gym.

When I got to our room I found that housekeeping was just finishing up next door. I asked him, in sort of sign language, if he were going to our room next. He was upset that he was not. He showed me he had a list. He must go by the list.

I tired to explain that it was okay. No problem. But how do you say "It's fine. If you wanted our room I would have taken the coffee down to the lobby but now I'll just have it in my room as I had planned," in Hungarian?

Friday - afternoon and evening

We spent the afternoon with Jeff Kern looking at homes in Coquina Crossing. It's a manufactured home community a few miles from downtown St. Augustine. We liked it quite a bit. There were several floor plans which we both liked, but could not decide between our two most favorite. *sigh*


Then we met up with Charlie and decided to try a diner in town called George's. It was quite good.

Here's Sassy and Charlie.

Sassy in place

Any morning that we leave the room with Sassy on the bedside table, our man from housekeeping arranges the bed so that Sassy has a place of honor. He is a very serious fellow, but clearly he has a playful side.

Wednesday Morning

The front desk of the Castillo Real as seen from the second floor balcony.


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This morning we had breakfast at the on site restaurant, La Cocina, which is conveniently around the corner from the laundry room. After breakfast and laundry we drove out to Barnes and Noble and had coffee (or frappucino, as the case may be) with Charlie, Bill and Dave. Then back to the hotel where Charlie made protein smoothies for lunch.

We were to have a three thirty telcon with our broker so we hung about the pool reading.




I'm reading "Faceless Killers" which is quite good, though a bit depressing.


My view of the pool.

Searching for digs

Dave Andersen, the Realtor that Charlie hooked us up with, spent an entire afternoon driving us around and showing us properties.

Dave is very low-key so it's easy to miss how extremely savvy he is. He's a keeper. We were well pleased.

We learned a lot, not only about the area and the possibilities, but also about our own likes and dislikes. We saw a number of places that almost fit the ticket, nothing perfect, but several definitely do-able.

Now we have a lot of thinking to do.

The Beach

Hank and Charlie are doing the tennis thing.

I walked down to the beach (about half a block). Being a water person, I could never understand the California beach scene. What was the attraction of a beach when you would freeze in the ocean?

Now I get it. There are some people in the ocean - surfers with wet suits - but there are also people jogging, riding bikes, walking dogs, meditating, practicing yoga and just generally hanging out.

Beaches are a thing of their own. It's not necessary to get wet to enjoy them


The Castillo Real is behind the building on the left.


St. Augustine beach.

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Sunday was a marathon drive day. I have to say that driving in South Carolina is worse than driving in Boston. They drive crazily in Boston, but they aren't stupid. All the stupid drivers are in South Carolina. Grrrrr.

We checked in to the Castillo Real in St. Augustine Beach about dinner time. We met up with Charlie and took off to seafood restaurant but it was closed on Sundays. ended up at the very nice Sunset Grille which is just down he road. Got back in time to see the underdog Giants beat the Pats in the superbowl.

Monday morning Hank and Charlie went to play tennis whilst I had a bit of a sleep in and then did the necessary unpacking. It's nice to have ourselves settled in for a week.

Carolina Preserve

I pretty much fell in love with the Triangle area in NC.

We went to look at the Del Webb Carolina Preserve. The shots above are of the community center there.