We visited the Sarasota area for a couple of days. Among the things we wanted to do was to see the Musical “A Tale of Two Cities”, based on Charles Dickens' novel.
Sarasota is between Tampa and Port Charlotte, it is a nice area, known for its arts scenes, and is probably an expensive area to live in, without overtly appearing so. We enjoyed the short visit, and the Musical was quite good also.
Tour of Myakka Lake. The lake is about a mile in width, water brown because of the tannin leached from trees, and supposedly full of wildlife. We toured the lake in a large airboat (nothing like the small ones you scoot around in the Everglades), and saw a lot of alligators. There were not that many waterfowl, though. One thing we learned from the volunteer was that there is no distinguishing difference between a heron and an egret.
Various beaches. Generally nice. Lots of people fishing, no one seems to be catching any big ones, though. This guy caught a bait fish and fed it to a Blue Heron that was hanging around, quite interesting.
Ringling Museum. The Ringling brothers of circus fame were big in Sarasota. The museum actually is a complex of four major buildings (and many smaller ones): the Ringling mansion, two buildings dedicated to the circus (one containing an impressive replica of a circus), and an art museum. The art museum has a huge collection, but I had trouble discerning a theme. It gave the impression of someone trying to gain respectability in the “elite world” by collecting whatever he thought would raise his cultural pedigree. (I know it is a bit harsh, I have to give him credit for bequeathing it to the public.)
A Tale of Two Cities. See my review on the show. We were surprised at the relative youth of the audience, especially compared to other cities we have visited in Florida.
One thing about the airport: quiet. It was pleasant to use this airport, everything is so accessible and easy to navigate. Unfortunately Continental has only one daily roundtrip.
