Monday 12/04/06 Day at Ringling Estates

Hey Everybody......

On Monday 12/04/06, Sue and I went the Ringling Estate. This is where John & Mabel Ringling made their home. Ringling was famous for putting together (with his brothers) the largest traveling circus. During the winter the circus workers would come back to Sarasota and surrounding towns, to live.

On the Estate is a visitors center, the original circus museum, the new miniature circus museum, the mansion, Mabel's rose gardens, and art museum, and a theatre!

The miniature circus museum is an exact- scaled to size- replica of what a circus looked like. The whole set up takes up about a football field size room. It has the town, trains, animals, tents- just everything you would have seen if you went the the site of a circus! The details were amazing!!! As you walked around this display there was audio with all the sounds you would have heard. An example: as you walked by the animal trailers - you'd hear the roar of the big cats; when you walked by the mess tent - you'd hear people talking and dishes clanging! The only thing missing was the smells! LOL Every so often the lights would dim and it made it so you could see what the area looked like at night with the lights and the performances going on.

The original circus museum had a lot of the original hand carved wagons that use to carry the animals, and many original costumes. There also was an exhibit dedicated to Gunther the animal trainer that died recently. In one section there was a man carving wooden figures like they did in the old days. Just before the end of the tour there was a section dedicated to the movie "The Greatest Show on Earth"- starring Jimmy Stewart and many other famous actors.

We walked from there to the mansion. It sat overlooking the Sarasota Bay. As you can see from the pictures it was quite the home in its day, with gold leaf doors, hand painted ceilings, and many other beautiful things.

Sue & I then went thru Mabel's rose garden. There were so many different kinds of roses in bloom. The smell was so sweet!!

We decided that due to lack of time - not to tour the art museum, but I'm sure it would have been a pleasure to stroll around the great works of art that we were told about.

All of the things we did, plus the art museum all came under the same admission price of $15.00. This is a very good deal!!! And a wonderful way to spend the day.

I hope that you enjoy viewing the pictures as much as I had taking them!

I'm going to go for now. It's getting late and dark.. harder to see what I'm doing. LOL

I just met a very nice young couple who pulled into the site next to mine. They are from France and are touring the US. They had been in Louisiana and then came to Florida. They too will be touring the southern and western states as well as Mexico. I'll be talking with them more tomorrow.

Well have a good night everyone, and I'll be back in touch again soon- With much love- Donna

SEE PICTURES IN ALBUM #43:http://picasaweb.google.com/Pandadmd5880