Moving up the
coast, we stopped to see an old high school classmate of Tom’s who owns an ice
cream business in Venice (Bentley’s).
Catching up on old times was great and we really enjoyed seeing the ice
cream production in action. We didn’t
see much of Venice, but we liked what we saw.
It is on the list of places to re-visit.
Lunching
with Marty and Grace, seeing their beautiful condo, and walking on the often
voted #1 most beautiful beach in the country gave us a brief preview of
Sarasota. Now our heads are beginning to
spin with possibilities! The sand was nearly as fine as baby powder. We'd never seen anything like it before.
Just north
of Sarasota, in the town of Bradenton, we dined with long time friends, Ed and
Janet who have retired to Florida. They
were kind enough to arrange our boondocking in their church parking lot. It was much nicer than Walmart, Cracker Barrel,
or Flying J – all of which we have done!
Also in
Bradenton, lives the Ringling museum.
You’re thinking circus museum … right?
Welllllll, there’s a lot more to it.
This is the state art museum of Florida, holding a large (21 galleries,
10000 objects) collection of European paintings, sculptures and antiquities
amassed by John and Mable Ringling.
In
addition to the art museum, the property also includes Ca d’Zan (the estate
home) and rose garden with European sculptures throughout, the Circus museum, a
large historic theater (built in Italy in 1855, disassembled and purchased,
imported and reassembled by Ringling Museum) and the largest art reference
library in the southeast. We could have
spent longer at the museum complex, and could have moved right into the house!
Ca D’Zan was
our favorite of the luxury homes we toured.
It was completed in 1926, (about the same era as the Flagler and
Vizcaya homes which we had toured earlier in this trip) as a winter residence.
The architecture is Mediterranean Revival, inspired by Doges palace in
Venice (we have been there). The
Ringlings traveled extensively and the home has many items collected from their
travels. We could identify with that
approach to decorating.
The residence was restored in 2002 with most details of the original construction and
decoration faithfully restored. The
approximate cost for the original construction converts to about $21 million in
2013 dollars. Love the whimsical ceiling paintings
The roof
tiles came from Barcelona – from homes demolished for road construction. Ringling had two shiploads imported for his
home construction
These windows, clearly inspired by circus themes, look out onto an elegant marble terrace and dock area.
Mable
Ringling had a gondola kept at the deck and frequently had servants propel her
along the shoreline
Mable Ringling died in 1929, just 3 years after the completion of Ca’ d’Zan. As a result
of the depression and bad investments, Ringling had $311 to his name at his
death in 1936. To save his beloved home
and art collection from creditors, he willed the assets to the state of
Florida.
The circus
museum, established in 1948, offers a collection of Ringling circus art and
artifacts.
There is a wood carving studio where woodcarvers have been working since the 1960's to continue this tradition
John Ringling was the youngest person in the country to own a private Pullman car. The walls are mahogany with intricate moldings and gold-leaf stencils. The car was built in 1905, it is 79 feet long.
I always wanted long lean legs
Other fun circus items:
Our last stop (for 5 days) on this leg of the trip was in Ruskin. Ruskin ?? you ask. It is southeast of Tampa, inland, on the Little Manatee River. We met Jerry and Sherri in Alaska and have visited and stayed in touch since then. They invited us to park the RV in their driveway and enjoy their little winter residence slice of heaven. From their back deck:
We had a wonderful time with them, and in their neighborhood. We kayaked, played pickleball, tennis, golf, picked fresh oranges, met neighbors, and painted.
Kris has been turning wrong side out trying to figure out how to see sand hill cranes, in South Dakota, in April, during their migration pattern. Who knew that they would be right here in Ruskin !
This community was SUCH a good cultural and geographic fit, we are on a wait list for a rental next winter.
Next Post: Moving North
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