Up to Belvedere Tower

We took our guests to The Ringling Museum. I had told them about the Ringling before and Fran expressed interest in going, yay! This is one of my favorite local places to visit. I thought they might enjoy a short tour of some of the rooms in the Ca' d' Zan mansion. John's Tour ends with a climb up to the beautiful Belvedere Tower. There, you have a gorgeous view of Sarasota Bay! This tower is up four flights of stairs,  but you meander there while learning about John & Mable Ringling, the Circus King, his wife, and the home they built. ;O)

I will add extra photos of a view of the tower from the back terrace (you can see the curved stairs going up, and a couple more sharing the view from the top, ooh la la! Fran & Dave quite enjoyed! We toured a bit more of the museum and visited my great uncle, William Glackens' painting (the pansies) in the permanent exhibit. Then, Steve took us on a lovely long way home - across the Ringling Causeway bridge to the barrier islands, St Armands Key, Longboat Key, and Anna Marie island. Fran & Dave got to see more of the area we live in and we all had a great day! Their son arrives tonight to see his sister Jen race in the Women's quadruple sculls for Canada!! She has made it to the FINALS and will race tomorrow at 1pm!