Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Our Visit to Flagler College

This week's travel post is my last post of our visit to St. Augustine.  Some of you  are probably whooping it up right now because you want me to wrap it up and move onto the second day of my fall vacation and others may not even know what I'm talking about.  If your in the latter group, you can catch up starting with my first post of St. Augustine HERE.

Flagler College is the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen in my entire life.  I can't even imagine being a young college student going to school in such a luxurious tropical oasis within a few minutes walk to the beach.  How in the world do these kids get any work done?


When we were walking in Old City, St. Augustine, we kept seeing the beautiful towers of this building in the sky line, but we had no idea what it was.  So after we finished up in the shopping district, beach, and fort, we decided to head in the direction of the towers to check it out.


When we reached the beautiful building, we were surprised to see that it was a college.  Now, I've seen a lot of attractive college campuses in my life, but nothing that looked like this!  


 The detail surrounding the gate was absolutely amazing, not to even mention the gate itself!  Look at the size of it!  And don't you just love the lion head relief?


 Even the ornate detailing under the roof was amazing!


This is a open, but roof covered hallway as seen from the outside of the quad.  It connects one building to another.


We had no idea if the college was open to the public or not, but it looked so beautiful we wanted to see more, so we very cautiously started peeking inside.


My husband and I were absolutely awestruck with this quad.  He said it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen.  It was so quiet and serene too.  We felt we found a magical little place.


You may have seen similar pictures in my Garden's of St. Augustine post.  The courtyard was filled with majestic palms, tropical plants, beautiful flowers, lovely walkways, and a fountain.  And it was maintained to absolute perfection!




If I were a student here, I would be spending all my time sitting on one of these benches doing my studies.


 Our scholarly son-in-law Jason wasn't as interested in the courtyard as we were, so he braved ahead of us and went inside.  It was there we found the security guard.  You are allowed to step inside and see the tree and rotunda, but that's as far as they let you go.  There are lots of posters up explaining the history of the college that you can read.  They also have tours of the college for $10.00 per person, but we had already missed the last tour of the day.

This is the ceiling in the rotunda.  It is 68 feet high.  Notice the two balconies?  Amazing.  And see the first balcony, right by the tip of the Christmas tree?  That's the student cafeteria!  Yep, that's where all the kids eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday....in absolute luxury!  Lucky dogs!


The tree was absolutely gorgeous.  I love how they put the school crest at the top.


So why is this college so luxurious?  Because it use to be a luxury hotel built in 1888 and converted into a college in 1968.


I hope to be able to go back to St. Augustine and tour this magnificent place.  I would love to see these rooms:

This is the Flagler Room, which was originally the hotel's grand parlor.  Gotta love that Tiffany Austrian Crystal Chandelier!
Photo Credit
And this is the Dining Hall.  Do you like the Louis Comfort Tiffany Glass Windows?  Gasp!
Photo Credit
Oh, my goodness.  What a gorgeous place.  Wouldn't you love to attend a ballroom dance in this hall?

I hope you enjoyed my little visit to this magnificent place.  Next week, I move on to Day Two of my Florida vacation:  Winter Park Boat Ride!

Have a great day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!


8 comments:

  1. wow that is some seriously beautiful architecture!!
    www.amemoryofus.com

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  2. Great post and loving your photos! Looks like you had an amazing trip.
    ~Sam
    http://goldcoastgirlblog.com

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  3. Isn't that place just amazing? What a fantastic vacation you had! Thanks for bringing us along and joining The Maple Hill Hop! We love field trips! ;0D

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  4. This looks like an amazing place to study! Wow! Love the beautiful photos.

    Love, Liz
    stylewich.com

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  5. Wow! So gorgeous, I would love to dance in that ballroom!

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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  6. Amazing architecture! Merry Christmas Amy.

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  7. What a fantastic place, Amy! I love visiting places like that, but to be a student in that College! Wow!
    Many thanks for taking part in Travel Tuesday. I wish all the best for the Festive Season and the happiest of New Years.

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  8. Delightful place, Amy!
    Many thanks for your participation in Floral Friday Fotos. Best wishes for the Festive Season and may 2016 be a happy year for you and yours.

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