20171203 – Circus Museum; Art Museum; Chicago Dipped Beef Sandwich; Goodbye Venice

Lazy morning then we drive up to Siesta Key for a food and music festival. Parking’s a nightmare, free spaces rarer than a lap dancing bar in Tehran, so we park about a mile down the beach and walk back up the beach. As expected no American would risk life and limb walking this far.

It’s free music but food is greasy and expensive, although the paella looks enticing. We pass and just listen to the music and drink our water. My god it’s hot.

On the way home we call at Starbucks for afternoon tea and some cake to feed Wendy who is that hungry she could eat a grizzly bear fur sandwich.

Evenings just more Game of Thrones and Veep.

Decide on some culture today, set off to the Ringling museum in Sarasota. The art museums free on a Monday but we lash out and pay for the circus museum. They have an amazing miniature circus covers a massive area with amazing attention to detail. That along with circus memorabilia and some videos brings back memories of how good circuses used to be when we were kids. Sadly no more.

Then we have our exotic picnic by Sarasota bay. The gardens and grounds here are quite stunning. Oh how the rich lived.

Visit the art museum, much to Wendy’s disgust. I have to say the majority of the paintings in there are depressing. I wouldn’t even use them to wrap my chips in. There are some good photographic displays. One is particularly good on America and the War in the middle east.

In the evening we meet up with Pat and Steve, friends of Jerry and Diane, and have some drinks and an evening meal. Have a pleasant evening and it’s always good to meet up with new people, surprising the similarities between us all. Meet in an interesting sports bar, foods a tad basic and unlike most of these bars in the movies there’s no pole dancers. Now I love American junk fund, but come on fried Mac and cheese or fried Ravioli has to be the product of the mind of a degenerate chef. Try the fried Mac and Cheese, think I’ll stick with the original.

After our usual leisurely morning we have a great bike ride down the Legacy Trail. As I suspected we didn’t make it all the way to Sarasota. A whining numb bum struck after 7.5 miles, but at least that meant we did 15 miles, an improvement on last weeks 12 miles. Amazing isn’t it, I stop for a pee in the woods and within seconds the whole world turns up as two cars arrive in the most inaccessible two different places you can imagine – unbelievable. Perverts. Is there no peace, is nothing sacred anymore. With my luck it’s a wonder it wasn’t an American pipe band or the local cheer leaders out for a run.

On the way back we call in at the Daiquiri Raw Bar for some drinks. It’s happy hour so Wendy gets two Daiquiris for the price of one. She’s obviously taking this training to be an alcoholic very seriously as she asks for an extra shot of rum. The corruption of the English language continues unabated with “happy houring”.

While Wendy kindly packs I toddle off down to Siesta Key for a spot of kayaking.

Awesome morning kayaking around Siesta Key. Birds galore, including Ospreys and Herons, but best of all is a squadron of 16 pelicans coming into land on an island. They perch on trees and keep a suspicious eye on me. Alas no dolphins of manatees.

Hot and sunny as I contemplate that 48 hours from now we’ll be back in the frozen wastelands.

In the afternoon we have a stroll into town to maraud around the few shops there is. Wendy passes on a happy hour Daiquiri.

For my last supper here in Venice I get a real treat. It’s a dipped Chicago beef sandwich here at America’s equivalent of the greasy spoon cafe on steroids. Proper gourmet food, a cholesterol special. But never let it be said that I’m not into healthy eating as I only have it single dipped into mouth watering gravy, rather than the true epicureans double dipped.

The red neck bearded, toothless clientele of this place, look like they just escaped from the civil war in Georgia, seem delightful as they swill down pinkie water from heavy frozen fighting jars. I was tempted to open a discussion on the nats urine they serve over here labelled as beer, but prefer my front and back teeth the way they are.

Up and out by 09:30 for a drive back up to Orlando airport.

Apart from having to wait for the Virgin checkin to open, we’re TSA pre-checked and so it’s a pretty smooth process. Amazing, Virgin customer service score again. No indication what time check-in opens. There are staff there but can they be bothered serving. Keep everyone waiting without as much as a nod or bye your leave. Then suddenly there’s about 12 agents with nothing much to do. Does it never occur to them they could put a couple of staff on early and then add more later, plus little sign indicating what time check-in opens – wouldn’t stretch the budgets or common sense too far. Mind you the signs over the check-in desk said Emirates, that’ll confuse the punters and have them wandering around the airport looking for Virgin. Customer service as crap as ever.

Nice lounge as we’ve a long wait, but the booze helps pass the time. Sat on plane for two hours delay while they sort out paperwork and get a high tech solution like a dip stick to see how much fuel they have in their tanks! Food as appalling as ever. Thankfully my sleeping tablets and a few glasses of wine make the flight snore by. Although the woman sat next to me is a tad concerned when I nod off with a glass of red wine in my hand.

Land in Manchester about an hour late. Then it’s a cock up with the luggage as the cargo bay doors are frozen. I don’t believe it. Obviously Manchester being in the tropics this sort of thing never normally occurs.

Arrive home to snow in Belthorn.