Howard and I spent the morning walking and shopping. We checked out the fortress, Castillo de San Marcos, but had the “child”,

with us and he was not allowed inside.

No worries, we took him back to the boat and toured the Lightner Museum instead, which exhibits the unique and somewhat bizarre Victorian era collection of everything from Victorian era music boxes, toasters, crystal, art, furniture, Tiffany stained glass, to shrunken heads.

We were there for a demonstration of the music boxes.  Interesting pieces.  These are not small tabletop music boxes, rather piano size boxes, one of which had a violin as part of its instruments that played.  Unfortunately, no pics of the music boxes.

Thought this was interesting as to what actually originated on which continent.

There was even a porcelain figurine of Caleb 🙂

The museum itself is housed in the 1888 built Hotel Alczar, which Lightner purchased in 1946 to display his collection. The building itself is a museum, with some sections, such as the grand ballroom, having been recently restored to their original state.

This is a nighttime shot of the museum (old hotel).

Much, much more to see and experience in this city. Luckily, we are spending Thanksgiving nearby at Palm Coast with my sister and niece, so will have plenty of time to explore the oldest city.