Renewal Leave - Part Seven - Hiking Around

I went to Venice to try a new hiking trail in Wellen Park, but it had no parking for people who don't live in that community. So I pivoted and found another park nearby. I really enjoyed hiking Sleeping Turtles Preserve. It reminded me so much of old Florida, especially Camp Dorothy Thomas where I used to camp in Riverview as a Girl Scout. Some of the trails follow the line of the Myakka River and in this section it is very calm. 

 

Renewal Leave - Part Six - Ringling

Home from Georgia Tech and I grabbed my library book and went to the Bay park to read for a bit. 

Then I decided to go to visit all of the John and Mable Ringling museums just north of downtown. 

I started with the two Circus museums. 

I loved seeing the Ringling's 1922 Silver Ghost Rolls Royce limosuine alongside their own Pullman railroad car named the Wisconsin. 

Then I walked over to their actual home - Ca'D'Zan - which is Venitian for the House of John. They only let you into the bottom floor to see the main rooms. They are still doing a ton of restoration after the three hurricanes we had in 2024. 

To the north of the house is the secret garden which is where the Ringlings are buried along with John's sister. 

In the middle of the property between the house on the bay and the museum near Tamiami Trail is Mable's rose garden. This is also an area under reconstruction because of all the salt water in the hurricanes. 

This is the art museum that John and Mable designed and built in the late 1920s while they were building their house. 

The front two galleries are dedicated to five large paintings by Peter Paul Rubens in the early 1600s. 

There were lots of other great paintings in the other 19 galleries. 

This room used to be in the Astor's New York home and Ringling bought it and had it reassembled here - it was Mrs Astor's sitting room (and he also bought her library but it they were installling an exhibit so we couldn't go in that part). 

My favorite painting was the Blue Madonna. 

The museum is built in a U shape and there was a gorgeous garden with more statues in the middle and a clear view back to the bay. 

One last exhibit before I left was the Glass Collection up by the gift shop. This dress and sideboard are entirely made of glass and they were so impressive.