March 19 Monday Day 22

Added a couple things later this evening.
Tonight we are in Clearwater FL Quality INN up 30 miles from St. Petersburg.

One of the reasons we came back to St. Petersburg, besides the warmer weather down here versus Daytona Beach, was to see the Sunken Gardens – A Botanical Experience. That was an understatement. The guide was a horticulturalist with a stunning presentation. It was a two and a half hour walk through a ¾ mile path. He, after being there since 1998, knew each plant there botanical name and common name. You would think we have seen everything tropical by this time as it is our 10th garden. Well we have but this garden was started in 1903, a number of the royal palms were planted that year and have withstood many hurricanes, graceful and tall. The Cuban flamingoes were from the early 60’s and generally live 50 to 60 years. There are a number of caged birds. They and the flamingoes are taken in to a shelter each night so the raccoons don’t get to them. There was a pond full of Koi, a couple adults and there offspring. I found a fascination in cycads: Cycads have crowns of large, feathery compound leaves and cones at the ends of their branches. Some have tall, unbranched, armor like trunks; others have partially buried stems with swollen trunks – from Wikipedia. These plants have survived for 200,000 years, I have heard this number used a couple of times and figure it is within two standard deviations of the real date. A must for those who love gardening.

Off to the waterfront in Tampa Bay for lunch. We found Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro, watched the sail boats and birds while we sat and ate. Shirleen’s Chocolate Martini was scrumptious and I started with a Maddalena Cabernet followed by a Mezza Corona chardonnay. Shirleen opted for the fish of the day – a baked trout with a fine mango salsa and I a Quesadilla. This I got for Abby, as she likes them, not sure this one would be similar to her liking. It had fire grilled chicken, Andouille sausage, green tomatillo, onions and jack cheese folded in a cheddar jalapeno tortilla. Wow what a bite to it.

Down the block for another one of those mind-boggling exhibits Dalí - http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/home.html The current exhibit is DALI & THE SPANISH BAROQUE. The guide we had was marvelous, she pointed to the hidden portions of the paintings. Showing how his art incorporated other artist’s ideas. One of his themes was a small picture of a father, most of the time, holding his sons hand. This was what Dali would have loved to have had his father do. His father wanted traditional painting not this style. He did approve of his initial still lives. He was a master of color and technique. He had paintings that were line drawn, pastels and hard intense colors. One must understand what he has put into the painting and the time of the world he did it in. He was a very religious man in life and in his paintings. He drew a perspective of Christ on the cross; this picture was from the top and Christ's head hanging down so that one could not see his face. It turns out Dali does not paint the face of God, he always has something in the way, one was the fist of God in front of his face. This is the exact opposite of yesterday’s sculpture/painter. Dali's work included using the hidden - item – person – thing – into the picture, something you didn’t see until it was pointed out. Then you wonder how you missed it. One that I noticed was a painting with a line drawing of a lady, here nose and eye were actually a man on a horse holding a lance, yes really. I am now an avid lover of his work, I think ever since I saw his long legged giraffe elephant in a window in a French village near Cannes at a store in St Paul de Vence.

We went to the west to take in the sunset over the Gulf. But ended up eating again, at Caddy’s Waterfront BBQ and Restaurant in Treasure Island a couple glasses of Merlot and Shirleen’s pulled pork and my pastrami, we expected sandwiches it was just plated no bread with our double order of beans. The gals said she was glad she was not going to be between the sheets with us. The scenery was nice, but the food was just adequate. The wind had just changed direction now it is blowing from the Gulf all day it was the other way. Coats and sweatshirts came on, and me in my T-shirt.

We found the Quality Inn just in time, as the sun was setting out our lanai. The sun was obscured by clouds the last twenty minutes or so but the color was dramatic – yellow, orange and reds. Much like some of Dali’s work, jerr