Christmas morning. I must have sent out about 20 texts and got replies to probably 18. I ran downstairs to get mom some coffee and I snuck in two egg patties, a cranberry muffin, and an orange for myself. We started the morning by walking across the bridge of the Lions, a drawbridge which connects downtown St. Augustine to Anastasia Island.
We parked in the lot of the Anchorage Inn, a small motel, right next to the foot of the bridge on Anastasia Island. The woman working the desk ran out and told us we couldn't leave our car there, not even for 20 minutes to take a walk. Keep in mind, we were maybe the fifth car in the lot out of maybe 30 total spaces. We still had to move the tin can. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever. So we took maybe 25 minutes to walk the bridge each way and then we headed over to Columbia on St. George St. This was my first time at this location, my second visit overall. I was struck by the atmosphere of Spain music, several fountains, and
old Spanish and Cuban artwork. It's really a beautiful atmosphere.
We
started with a pitcher of the house red sangria, which had a great blend of wine
and fruit, not too sweet, but not bitter. It's a very well balanced sangria. The
hot Cuban bread isn't even fair. The fact that they serve each guest a half loaf
wrapped in parchment paper somehow makes it seem more special. The crust is very
crunchy, but there is a dense long-lasting taste to the inside of the bread that
sets it apart from other breads.
The 1905 salad prepared tableside. I
know it's been written about a lot, but I'll just say this. I still have no idea
how such a simple salad tastes so darn good. I'm not even a fan of ham and green
olives and I love this salad! But I recommend to get it with the shrimp al
ajillo, with adds an extra burst of garlic and chili pepper. It's some of the
best shrimp I've ever had.
We had a tapas sampler of fried shrimp
supreme, baked scallops, and meat skewers with chicken, chorizo, pork, and
onions. I wasn't thrilled with the shrimp, the batter was just not crispy
enough, The scallops with the lemon, butter, and bread crumbs were excellent, I
would definitely order these again. The skewers came out quite well, but I
especially liked how juicy and large the chunks of chicken were.
For
dessert, we went with the guava turnover. I'm not the biggest guava eater, but I
loved the sugar coated flaky pastry. I could have any filling with that pastry
and be happy. I have to knock the service for being way too slow, even thought it was
Christmas. But between the atmosphere, extensive menu, and food quality,
Columbia is a must-visit for me every time I visit Florida.
So from there, we began driving north towards Jacksonville and to Amelia Isle. I didn't think the sangria affected me, but it must have, because as Christmas R&B was playing on the radio, I napped for maybe a half hour. So in about an hour, we reached Amelia Isle, a very exclusive area north of Jacksonville. We drove through the town of Fernandina Beach, a small beach town with a lot of elevated beach-style homes, apartments, and hotels, not a lot of businesses there. We got out and took a few photos of the sand, ocean, and pier. Mom carved Merry Christmas 2012 in the sand with a stick and we took a photo and I posted it to Facebook. The way I was squatting behind it, I looked like Mike Piazza. As walked back to the tin can, we saw a Santa Claus sitting on a Harley Davidson. I asked him if he upgraded from his sleigh.
So anyway, we waited for four hours to board the plane in one of the deadest airports I've ever seen. Here's what is terrible. American Airlines has just one gate in the terminal, that's all they would pay for. So if one flight gets delayed, the entire flight scheduled gets delayed too. We were supposed to leave at 7:30 and we left for Miami at 9 pm. Thankfully, we made it with an hour to spare. But I remember that flight being very turbulent. It was to the point I asked the flight attendant for ginger ale to calm my stomach down. And I also remember right at the end of the flight, the guy next to me sneezed on my arm. Sick. Anyway, it had been a pretty long day and we were about to fly nine hours to Argentina. I was ready to relax. Little did I know what was in store on the next plane.
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