ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Many people may not have remembered Monday was Columbus Day until they tried to go to the bank, only to realize it was closed.

Some others, though, certainly try to mark the day.

In New York City, the 65th annual Columbus Day parade turned Fifth Avenue into a sea of red, white and green as thousands of Italian-Americans celebrated their heritage.

One St. Augustine man has paid tribute to Christopher Columbus' fateful voyage in a creative way, spending months creating miniature models of the three ships that sailed to the New World in 1492.

Building the ships was no small feat.

"It was done all in a period of four months, so I had some 12-hour days," said Bob Bergstrom, who made the models. "I'm still doing it as a hobby."

Bergstrom build Columbus' fleet, which includes the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, all from scratch.

"I've been building boats since I was about 12 years old, various types," Bergstrom said.

The 82-year-old miniature-boat builder made the boats down to every last detail for his grandchildren.

"Every piece is homemade and made as authentically as I possibly could," Bergstrom said. "I learned that making blocks takes a tremendous amount of time. I wanted to make them shaped as much as I could of the day and era."

He said he made everything on the boats except for the plaques and one other thing.

"I had an artist paint the flag, the crosses," Bergstrom said. "There's a limit to my talent."

Columbus spent a little more than two months coming to the New World, while Bergstrom spent about twice that amount of time taking this piece of history and shrinking it down to fit on a work bench.

"God gives us all a little talent, and this just happened to be mine," he said.

Bergstrom said his wife of 62 years also put up with all of the creating because she was an artist herself.