The West Coast

Our drive from Cape Canaveral took us past Orlando (we resisted the temptation to check out Universal Studios/Disney World or the other mega parks Orlando is known for), past Tampa, to St. Petersburgh, where we were staying the night. This time we were Airbnb'ing,our little studio flat was located in a pretty nice residential neighbourhood, not far from the seaside. After getting settled in, we decided to head off to grab something for dinner. I felt rather under-dressed - tonight was after all Valentine's day! We did eventually find a nice restaurant by the seaside, where we had a very nice little romantic dinner.

The next day, we wanted to head off early. But before that, we decided to go for a "sightseeing run". What better way to check out a bit of what St. Petersburgh has to offer than having a run by the seaside ? It was a very nice little morning run indeed, even if the sky was a little bit grey. St. Petersburgh seems like a pretty pleasant town to live in, with an artistic touch. Indeed, there is a Salvador Dali museum in town - which we check out during our little tour. 

And then, alas, it was time to head off. The final destination for the night was Sanibel island. We decided to do a stopover at Sarasota. Sarasota town centre was quite unremarkable - so we didn't hang around there for very long. We did have a delicious lunch there, though - the turkey burger I had is one of the best burgers I've had for a long time... Lunch out of the way, we decided to head off to check out the main attraction at Sarasota, the Ringling museum and the Ca d'Zan mansion.

As today was Monday, we could actually visit the Ringling museum for free! This vast "cultural complex" (which composes of the musem and the Ca d'Zan, and plenty of other stuff too, and some pretty impressive gardens) was built by John Ringling, a rather prolific businessman. His main passion & business was circus - but apart from that he was also involved in railroads, the oil business and real estate.

Mister Ringling clearly had a passion for all things Italian. The gardens have a very Italian look to them, and Ca d'Zan means "the house of John" in Venetian. Indeed, it rather resembles a modern version of a Venetian palace (it was built in the 1920's).

We arrived at the Ringling museum by the magnificent gardens - again the passion for Italy is well on display, with the U-shaped garden being a true homage to Reneissance Italy. After all, Michelangelo's David overlooks the other statues in the garden, watching over them, so to speak. The museum itself has a pretty impressive collection of art (it's the premier art museum of Florida) - unfortunately we only had time to spend an hour or so walking around. There was an exhibition on samurais on, so I suppose you can imagine where I spend most of my time.

And then, destination Sanibel island. The reason for us going there is kind of cool, really. Just a week before our trip to Florida, we met a very friendly American called Billy, who was visiting the Cote d'Azur. We got along extremely well with Billy, and we were very touched when we proposed we go see his parents, who actually happened to be staying in Sanibel island (in fact, we just missed Billy and his family by about 2 days).

So, we ended up spending a wonderful evening with Billy's parents Harry and Sally, who are really cool. They cooked some delicious surf and turf for us, followed by some equally delicious profiteroles. Harry and Sally have travelled around Europe for quite a bit, so it was really interesting hanging out with them. Harry also had an excellent bottle of Aberlour whisky, which acts as a great social lubricant!

After a great night's sleep, we got up for a bit of Sanibel exploration. Sanibel is a pretty unique place in Florida, in that they actually make quite a big effort in keeping the place as natural as possible. There are houses, yes, but they are quite discretely tucked away off the main road. The island is criss-crossed by cycle paths, so the best means of transport really is the bike. Plenty of wildlife about too - apparently Harry and Sally even ran into an alligator there...

I decided to have my first swim in Florida (about d**n time!), the water was pleasantly warm (certainly warmer than here on the Cote d'Azur). Apparently too cold for the Floridian's, though, I was the only person braving the sea this morning. And the beach was, in a word, magnificent.



We also checked out Captiva island, which is kind of like a more exclusive version of Sanibel island. Plenty of fancy houses to be seen... Actually, they have this thing called "open house viewings" in the states, where basically anybody can visit houses on sale - I suppose it's a good idea to pretend to be somewhat interested in buying. Anyway, Harry and Sally took us to one - which was pretty cool. The house itself was pretty amazing - swimming pool, garden, view over the sea, 4 or 5 on-suite bedrooms, you get the picture. "Only" 4.5 million dollars. Maybe next time.

After a lunch by the beach, it was time for us to say our good-byes, and head off towards the Everglades. Thank you so much, Harry and Sally, for your hospitality, should you ever read this!