Andrew Jackson.
Jacksonville, Florida,
a city named after General Andrew Jackson.
You may recognize him as the seventh president
of the United States.
But guess what? The city existed before that.
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Florida had just become a U.S. territory, not even a state yet,
that was in 1821,
and Andrew Jackson was the first provincial governor.
A few years later, there he was, occupying
the highest office in the country.
Let me introduce you to Andrew Jackson.
[laughs]
Jacksonville is located in the northeast of Florida,
very close to the border with the state of Georgia.
For us, it was a two-hour drive coming from Savannah.
We're on a road trip coming from South Carolina
heading back home to Orlando,
and we're taking extra time to see a few nice places along the way.
If you've never seen my videos before,
I'm Renata, I'm a journalist...
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
If they haven't seen your video before, shame on you.
- [laughs]
- Watch them all.
Sit down right now, watch them all.
- This is my husband Gordon. - Yes.
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- It's raining today.
- Yes, we don't know how much we will be able to cover from Jacksonville.
- But we'll cover it all, even if it's in the rain.
- [laughs] We'll try.
The first thing you'll notice when you come to Jacksonville,
especially Downtown Jacksonville is that it's quiet,
even before the pandemic.
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And there are a few explanations why.
I hear people saying that there's nothing to do here,
but it's not exactly true.
In my opinion, it's because the city is really spread out.
This is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States,
you know, the lower 48 states,
all the states, except Alaska and Hawaii.
More than twice the size of New York City.
And Downtown is mainly a place to work,
so people tend to stay mostly on their own side of town,
close to home, does it make sense?
Look at how charming
the names of the streets right here.
I love this.
Jacksonville or Jax for the intimate is a huge city
that sometimes feels like a small town.
So to show what you can do here, we'll have to drive around.
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Street art everywhere, even where you don't expect.
So much street art here everywhere, right? - Yes.
When you go to Miami, Austin, Texas, where we lived,
or even Penang, all the way in Malaysia,
you get to places like this,
and it is so crowded all the time, everyone trying to take pictures.
Here, it's just us.
We can take all these pictures without having to wait in line.
I even feel privileged.
[music]
Beautiful Florida Theater, look at this.
The Florida Theater is a historic movie theater from 1927.
Have you ever seen squirrels downtown a major city?
[laughs] It shows how peaceful it is.
Something so beautiful here downtown Jacksonville
is the riverwalk.
You have this riverwalk on both sides of the river.
This is the Saint Johns River.
Here we are on the north bank of the river.
Downtown is right over here.
You see? That's Andrew Jackson's statue.
It's a nice view.
You know, imagine this on a sunny day,
that you just come here to exercise.
You can go to the south bank by driving
or walking across this bridge here.
It's very cool, you see a lot of people jogging along the bridge.
We're gonna do it, but the lazy way.
We're driving over there,
because from there, we go somewhere else.
This is a drawbridge.
I wanted to see it open. How long can we wait, baby?
- About two more seconds.
- For it to open? - Yeah.
- Okay, time to go. - [laughs]
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Now, here is the south bank.
And this is the Fountain of Friendship.
When this park was open, this was the largest
and tallest fountain in the world.
Well, the water rises here, okay?
But that was in 1965.
On the internet, I saw some really nice pictures
of this fountain here at night.
There's a water show, a light show.
It's nice.
And from here, you got the view of Downtown.
Ah, look at this, how cool.
You can get a taxi, water taxi, here.
And you can just text him, very cool.
So the water taxi is not here, but if you text him, he comes.
If you want to go for a hop-on, hop-off, $12,
A lot more people here on this side, I guess more people might live here.
When we get to a new city, we love driving around the neighborhoods,
just to see the areas and see how people live.
We not always show this on camera,
but it's one of the favorite pastimes that we have.
And as today it's raining, we figured why not?
Gordon is already looking here at the GPS,
trying to find where to go.
We have a few neighborhoods already in mind
that we want to see.
- I'm looking for instructions on how to build an ark.
40 days and 40 nights of rain.
- Oh. [laughs]
Oh, baby, it's only today. Tomorrow is a new day.
- But you never know, it could come in handy.
- Ooh. [laughs]
That was close, Gordon. - Yeah.
- You're trying to get me wet here? - No.
This is Avondale. It's a neighborhood developed in the 1920s.
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This is the place to live in Jacksonville, huh?
- It is. - [laughs]
Wow! This house is amazing.
- Yes, they are.
- Saint Johns River here.
This is a river.
It's so big, it looks like an ocean.
Wow.
It would be a really nice picture here
with a swing and the river on a sunny day.
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Oh, baby, look at this street. It's totally brick.
- Yeah, yeah.
- How is it driving on a brick street?
- Bumpy. - You shake a little.
It's bumpy, yeah.
- Ah!
- [laughs]
A huge park here in Avondale, Boone Park.
lt's like a little downtown.
Busy. There's a lot of restaurants here.
A lot of people picking up food or just going to the restaurants.
Maple Street Biscuit Company.
We are right in front of the restaurant,
but I'm going to place an order online.
We just passed in front, and I saw that there's a line over there.
So let's go for the convenience, huh?
This is a chain that was created here in Jacksonville.
- What's unique? - Maple syrup.
- That's Canadian. - I know.
- Biscuit. - It's the way they prepare it.
It's the way they prepare. - It's biscuit.
- Biscuit with fried chicken, so they make something unique there.
And their sauces, their combinations, I heard that is really good.
And come on, you're Canadian, you want maple syrup, don't you?
As usual, we got a nice park for lunch,
but today lunch will be right here in the car.
No other option, baby - Nope.
- No, this is it.
Oh, my God, baby.
[laughs]
Are you that desperate, that hungry?
- Oh, yeah, fried chicken.
- Fried chicken with... - Bacon.
- And biscuit.
- Cheddar.
- Cheddar and biscuit. - On a biscuit.
- It's the apple sauce, apple butter.
- Good? - Oh, yeah.
Mmm, love that.
It's totally my style, baby. You knew that, huh?
- Mmm.
- You love bacon, don't you? - Uh-hmm.
- Mine is biscuit, fried chicken breast,
fried goat cheese medallion,
and their house-made pepper jelly.
Mmm, it's such an interesting combination,
the chicken with the biscuit here.
Fried cheese with chicken.
Mmm.
Oh, this is something.
I love this cheese.
Go one step extra and put the sauce...
Mmm.
With the sauce, it's just perfect.
I think this restaurant started out like as a breakfast place,
because they close at 2:00 PM,
but it's totally full there.
I don't know how they can close at 2:00,
and it's like what, 30 minutes to 2:00?
- I guess. - Yeah.
Very good.
- $19 in total. - Yeah?
- Yeah. Yes, it's really nice. - It was good.
- Our cheapest meal, so far. - Yeah.
[music]
The day is clearing up, baby. It's clearing up.
[music]
Did you know that the first Europeans to arrive here in Jacksonville
were actually French?
Yes, not Spanish and not British.
We're just arriving at Fort Caroline
where you can learn a little bit more about this French past.
It is a national park. The best of all, totally free.
Just a five minute hike and here we are already, La Caroline.
La Caroline.
But it's French, so shouldn't it be 'La Caroline'?
- I don't know.
- That's French.
It's French. - If you say so.
- It's a French occupation.
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This is a replica of the first European settlement
in the Jacksonville area in the 16th century.
This was France's first attempt to settle here in North America,
but it didn't work.
There was a massacre, a really bloody massacre.
The few people that survived were exposed by the Spanish.
So they named this area here La Caroline
as a homage to their king at the time, Charles IX.
So imagine, baby, Florida could have been French.
- Yes. - Oui, oui [yes in French]
Not yes, oui. - No, no.
- Oui [yes in French] - No, no.
There are few more trails you can do over here.
It's a beautiful park.
French explorer Jean Ribault,
he claimed this area when he erected a column.
It might be that column over there.
This monument commemorates the French landing
right here in Northern Florida.
This is probably not the original column that he erected here in the 1500s,
but it might be the right location.
Strategic view of the river here,
a place where the French probably wanted to say,
"From now on, this is mine."
You hear so many birds here, all over.
♪ And this bird you cannot change ♪
♪ Oh ♪
Lynyrd Skynyrd, they're from here.
The park closes at 5:00.
and we were rushing to get out because it's 10 to 5:00 right now.
And the ranger was so nice, he approached us,
he said that there's a parking lot just across the street, totally free.
And that they don't mind if you park the car over there,
and you come back here to enjoy this park.
There are many hiking trails here.
At 5:00, all the cars must be out,
but they don't mind if people just walk back in.
That was so cool for him to let us know.
This other lot here is open 24 hours.
- Look at this yard.
Imagine that... all those trees... - Yeah.
- That's a lot of yard work you'd have to do, Renata.
- Yeah. - All that grass you'd have to cut.
- Look at the sun coming out, baby.
I think we can check out the beach now!
We're like 15 minutes away from the beach.
- Are we? - Yeah, we are.
- Wrong, 17. - We are. 17?
[laughs] That's what the GPS says?
Just arriving. This is Atlantic Beach.
Here it is.
Nice beach.
It rained basically the entire day.
But at the end of the day, look at this.
The beach welcomes me with some sun.
Beautiful white sand beach here
and some very beautiful houses here,
very beautiful oceanfront houses.
[music]
The best way to park here is to download this app called Flowbird
because the machines are not everywhere.
See? They're not anywhere close.
The app sees where you are,
and then you just choose the closest location.
It identifies you, and then you just come.
Park here.
It was just 35 cents for 30 minutes
if you're using the app for the first time.
So lovely, huh?
What could be better?
For a day, that started rainy and cold.
It was kind of cold today, right?
- Turns into sunshine. - Yes.
Beach with an açai
Cheers to Jax! - Cheers!
The beaches are the most famous part of Jacksonville.
Would have dedicated more time to this area here
if the weather was better.
There are actually four beaches here.
We're now in Neptune Beach.
We just passed Atlantic Beach,
and then there's Jacksonville Beach, and Ponte Vedra.
They all seem to be really nice,
beautiful, charming, and quaint communities.
Can you see that pier over there?
That's already Jacksonville Beach.
It's closed right now.
See? It's under reconstruction because it was damaged by a hurricane.
He loves to see how cold the water is.
- There's jellyfish here. - Oh, yeah?
- Yeah. - A lot?
- Quite a bit. See all those little things there?
That's all jellyfish. - Wow!
- Don't touch. - No.
Stay away. - Yes.
Certainly an area I want to discover more next time we're here.
Because for tomorrow, we already have plans.
We're going just north of Jacksonville,
almost close to the border with Georgia to see an island,
and I'm sure it's going to be worth it.
Cheers to Jax!
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