Tuesday 20 March 2007

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Awake: 6:48am Temp 66 sleep 6+44 cloudy overnight @ Galveston Island State Park, Texas.

Starting @ 8:05am, Gary & I walk the beach for an hr of exercise. The sand is hard; vehicles drive on it so it’s easy walking & refreshing.

The (4) of us ride downtown to the Strand District (oldest section of Galveston) & watch a 28 min movie on “The Great Storm” of 1900 that nearly flattened Galveston & 6000 people perished. Such power Mother Nature has! Only the strong structures survived the strong winds & flooding waters.

Then we walk around this historic area where most of the old buildings have survived or have been rebuilt to their former beauty as before the big storm; like the Grand 1894 Opera House where we did a self tour. It is quite beautiful inside, but still a work in progress for updating.

Gary hints at lunch so we take time out @ the Colo Star Coffee Shop restaurant where we all have a 2nd breakfast except Grace, who rarely eats a breakfast. It was a good stop.

Next, we visit Saint Mary’s Catholic Church; the oldest surviving church in the city. Built in 1847, it survived the great storm. Then down the street, we visit the only Tremont Hotel in town (the other was destroyed by the great storm). Inside the Tremont, we take the elevator to the 4th floor, then walk outside to the garden & overlook patio area where we could easily see the shipyard & dry docking operation. The Tremont is a very old & luxurious hotel & has been renovated to modern specs.

Now we do some serious touring: “The Bishop’s Palace” on Broadway Street. It wasn’t built for the Bishop; originally erected in 1886 @ a cost of $250,000…..by a wealthy attorney. It not only survived the great storm, but nary a window was broken & some 200 people took shelter inside during the catastrophe. In 1923, the late Bishop Christopher Byrne moved in & stayed for 27 yrs. We were impressed with the modern conveniences for its time period. Massive sliding doors; (9) fireplaces, each one different; the architectural experts point out: only one other structure of Victorian design is comparable to the Palace & that is the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.

From here we drive through the area of Historic Mansions (there are plenty) & make our way toward the free ferry that G & G plan to use when departing this island in a few days.

Back @ our campground, Grace brings over cheese, crackers & pretzels for wine time; then a dinner by Kathy: a mixed salad, Italian sausage from Johnstown, PA with whole wheat pasta in her homemade spaghetti sauce, & garlic bread.

Late movie: “The Thin Man” with William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, etc. The thin man is a murder victim, but never mind. The delight of this film is the banter between its stars. You’ll like their little dog, too. 1934. It’s a true classic.

High temp=60’s Lights out: 11:53pm

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This page contains a single entry by George Monte Kirsch published on March 25, 2007 3:42 PM.

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