Category: Florida

Florida Frolic: St. Augustine

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FLORIDA FROLIC:  ST. AUGUSTINE

In our quest to become better acquainted with our home state, we’ve been taking short trips to cities not that far from us.  For the last two years, we and good friends made a December trip to Winter Park to visit the museums, cruise on the lake, and sample the local eateries.  This year, our destination was St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, located on the east coast, and about four and half hours away.  Christmas was the theme and there were several decorated trees in the square, plenty of holiday lights, and an overall festive feel.  

St. George Street is pedestrian only and the main drag in the historic district.  To be frank, our initial impression was a negative one.  Too many souvenir shops, too many hokey “historic” sites, and a plethora of pubs and bars.  It seemed a combination of Lake George Village and the worst of the Jersey Shore.  Add to that our inauspicious lunch at the Bull & Crown marked by glacial service and, with the exception of the delicious sausage rolls, food that was just average.

With a bit more poking around, life improved.  We discovered some attractive shops and galleries, we toured the main Flagler College building which was formerly the very luxurious Hotel Ponce Leon, and we signed on for an Old Town Trolley excursion around the city.  

Fountain in courtyard at Flagler College

This hour and a half ride (you can get on and off at any stop all day long, but we didn’t) gave us a good feel for what’s here—from the Fountain of Youth Park to the first Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, to the distillery, to the historic fort, to several architecturally distinguished churches, to the Lincolnville Neighborhood with its distinctive frame houses.  Our trolley drivers made too many references to discounts and which attractions were free, but otherwise they were informative.  

Given that we like good food, we selected restaurants ahead of our arrival.  The two dinners and our second lunch were all delicious.  Here’s where we ate. We’d happily return to any one of these restaurants.

Collage.  I’d call their food continental, rather than French.  In any case, the small dining room is an elegant coral-walled space and the dinner service was most professional.  Several of us had the yummy carrot datil bisque to start followed by bronzino on a bed of spaghetti squash and couscous with cherry tomatoes.  Others enjoyed the superb black grouper and the diver sea scallops.  Datil peppers, hot like Scotch bonnets, are grown locally. 

Black grouper entree

Sangrias Wine & Tapas Bar. We were the only diners at Sangrias at lunchtime, but the food exceeded expectations.  We ordered the chicken pesto wrap and the crab cakes with salad along with a few beers. Our food appeared quickly and everything was tasty.

Catch 27.  This is a casual place that serves excellent food, all very fresh.  We dug into the trio of dips (guacamole, pimento cheese fondue, and pico de gallo) with chips to start.  The guys began with Minorcan seafood chowder, and then we were on to flounder with risotto and sherry cream and red sorrel that was amazing, buttermilk fried chicken, and fish tacos with a house salad.  Everything was supremely good!

Penguin cheer

St. George Inn.  We stayed overnight here (this hotel consists of six buildings around the historic area) and found their wine bar, Bin 39, most inviting in the evening.  It was also the breakfast room each morning. We were pleased that the small buffet included bagels, croissants, bread, cheddar cheese, sliced ham, and salami with a selection of jams and spreads.  Just about perfect to begin a day of sightseeing!

Note: Photos and text ©JWFarrington.

Florida Frolic: Lakes & Bells

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WINTER EXCURSION

We enjoyed our brief trip to Winter Park last February so much that we decided to repeat the trip this week. Winter Park began as a refuge for the moneyed set, a winter playground as it were, and it’s clear that it’s still a wealthy place with a cultural life built around Rollins College.  Amtrak trains stop at the station in the center of town and there’s a commuter train as well.  

Arriving by car, we returned to the lovely Alfond Inn.  It’s owned by the college and the proceeds go to support student scholarships.  The hotel’s public spaces are particularly lovely and are enlivened by paintings from the college’s contemporary art collection.  It was fun to see which ones were new and which we remembered from the last visit.  

We lunched outside at the Parkview on Park Avenue, the main street, and then walked the few blocks to Lake Osceola for the 1:00 pm boat tour.  Located north of Orlando, Winter Park is charm itself, and this peaceful lake is one in a string of six interconnected lakes. 

 The captain and guide on our open pontoon boat navigated around the lake and through several narrow canals giving us local history and pointing out the Rollins president’s house and other noteworthy homes fronting on the water almost all with private docks.  Inching through the canals, we crept under low bridges and alongside residents’ boathouses.  Large trees and lush vegetation, Spanish moss and giant ferns edged the shore.  There was no wind and our one hour cruise most pleasant.

CARILLON PAR EXCELLENCE

On the trip home, we made a slight detour to Lake Wales in Polk County to visit Bok Tower Gardens.  This somewhat hidden attraction is a real gem and well worth a visit.  The gardens, designed by Frederick Olmsted of Central Park fame, feature a bog, wetlands, wildflowers and endangered plants.  We noted camellias and other blooms on our walk. 

But the centerpiece of this place, and the highlight for us, was the Singing Tower looming 205 feet into the air and on the highest land in all of Florida.  Initiated by Edward Bok of Curtis Publishing, and dedicated by President Coolidge in 1929, the tower is made of gorgeous pink Georgia marble and coquina stone and houses one of the world’s largest carillons.  Its 60 bells are played daily in half-hour concerts at 1:00 and 3:00 pm.  

Before the first concert, we enjoyed salads at the Blue Palmetto Cafe and chanced to see the resident carillonneur, Geert D’hollander, at the next table.  The Chief Penguin engaged him in conversation and learned that, Belgian by birth, he came here from UC Berkeley in 2012, found himself a wife, and just last week became a U.S. citizen.  

He said that playing here was a treat—the isolated location means that there is no ambient noise from sirens or traffic and no students to complain if he plays too long!  The program brochure noted that he has won first prize in more than 30 international competitions for carillon or composition.  The afternoon concert was most enjoyable and played by a visiting fellow from the University of Rochester.

There is a modest admission charge to the gardens of $15 for adults, and the visitor center offers an introductory video along with an art exhibit and a gift shop.  

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Florida Fling: Winter Park

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WINTER PARK EXCURSION

Florida has been our home for more than three years, but we haven’t explored much beyond our immediate area.  Thanks to the prompting of good friends, Alice and Bill, we made a short visit to Winter Park with them. Bill is a consummate organizer and tour guide (and driver!), and we were the beneficiaries of their combined knowledge from previous visits.

Winter Park is a lovely walkable town east of Orlando.  Rollins College (founded in 1885) is a dominant force in the community and graces the town with its tasteful Spanish/Mediterranean architecture.  Surrounding the campus are quiet residential streets with elegant houses and expansive churches of all flavors.  Winter Park Avenue, the main street, offers four blocks of inviting small shops and restaurants, many with outside tables.  There are also two small art museums.  It was a charming and pleasant place and, for us, reminiscent of Palo Alto.  

 

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art boasts the largest collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s work and his glass pieces are certainly a highlight of the museum.  It also has glass pieces, ceramics, and paintings by other artists.  

I particularly enjoyed seeing not only the gallery of Tiffany lamps, but also the re-created rooms from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s Long Island residence, as well as the elaborate chapel interior with its intricate mosaic work made for the Chicago exposition of 1893.

It’s a gem of a museum (the building itself architecturally pleasing) and was well worth visiting!

 

 

 

 

We also had a brief look around at Rollins College’s small art museum, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, on the edge of their campus. We didn’t realize that they closed at 4:00 pm and so had to hustle a bit to see “Towards Impressionism,” featuring works by Corot, Monet, and Harpignies (the latter new to me), and a bit of the permanent collection.  It’s noteworthy that contemporary works from the college’s collection are on display throughout the lobby and other public spaces in the Alfond Inn.

“The Misfits” by Rosalyn Drexler

Owned by the college, Alfond Inn is one of the loveliest hotels I’ve stayed in.  It’s been open for four years and still looks brand new.  The extensive main floor showcases paintings and sculpture by a variety of artists, including some lovely prism-like glass shapes hanging from a glass dome that I thought were fabulous.

There is also a large outdoor courtyard with seating and a sculpture called “The Hermit” by Jaume Plensa.    

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that we also ate well.  The hotel breakfast included some different fare from the usual bacon and eggs.  Lunches at the Parkview and Blu were tasty, and we sat outside watching the world go by.  Dinner was at the elegant and very contemporary Luma on Park where we sampled some creative pasta dishes, Hamachi crudo, and diver scallops.  As to shopping, we ladies bought shoes (a standalone Rieker shop) and greeting cards and browsed in Writer’s Block, a small independent bookshop, where I found Ant and Bee books for my granddaughters and succumbed to a paperback novel by an Australian writer.

All photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).