Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Florida's Coast-Melbourne area

May 2014
After a trip to Walt Disney World we needed a relaxing vacation :)
Bunny and I stayed a couple days in the Melbourne area.  Day 1 sit at the beach.  We shoved the umbrella in at a jaunty angle to the wind and read all day.


One day was devoted to seeing Melbourne.  First, the historic district which is not very large but has an art museum-the Foosaner which is quite nice for a city this size.  We saw Langdon Kihn, known for his portraits of Native Americans.  Indeed those were my favorites, but it was impressive that the museum was able to put together an exhibit devoted to him.

 A lovely park with a band shell by the Rotary club.

with benches-too cute

Then walk down to the residential section to learn some history

and see some old houses

Tours only on the weekend, otherwise we would have seen the interior.

 The cemetery turned out to be a highlight for me


It is missing many markers

but they have studied it.  A graduate student used radar to map underground anomalies and make a more educated map of likely graves.  Who knew!

In the afternoon we hit the downtown shopping area and ate at The Mansion-perfect!  We ate on the roof deck, but they have a to-go deli and a wide selection of wine and liquor.  I also have to recommend Karen & Friends Beads and Gifts.  Go explore and talk to the nice folks!

On the day of our flight we visited the Morse Museum which houses the largest collection of Tiffanys.  It was really impressive-I didn't quite realize the extent of his work and influence.  No photos again, so here are some of my favorites from postcards

He designed a chapel for a World's Fair and the museum has the whole thing!

There is a lot of information about the Tiffany house on Long Island and recreations within the museum.

The pottery above left is ferns (but I see octopus!), the window is parrots, fantastic to see in person.  

The Wreck by Lockwood de Forest.  

They had a couple other exhibits and one small room on artistic ink pens.  The type where you needed an ink well and you needed a steady hand to not get blotchy looking letters (remember poor Charlie Brown).  All in all a nice (air-conditioned) way to spend a couple hours in Orlando when not at the amusement park.

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