A day out in Sarasota- our old hunting ground

We have stayed at a friends place in Sarasota, well I say Sarasota as its massive area and where we really were was in a place called the Meadows about 25 minutes from the beach, but we thought that we would have a day around town with lunch and do some shopping.

So we left around 10.30 and headed North and it took about one hour and we headed for a well know area called St Armand's Circle, which is basically a very large roundabout with lots of restaurant’s and expensive shops around the outside and it was very, very busy and was going to be difficult to park. So we did not stop but continued on the main road down to the beach area where we found a nice place to sit in the car in the sun and enjoy the view. We could have sat on the beach but sand on your normal clothes is a pain whilst the wooden seats looked a little hard. However there was also a very cool wind blowing but the views were very nice.

We drove back in to the main town crossing the causeway, see video, and headed for Whole Foods store which is easy to park and they have a very large range of foods you can buy and eat on the premises, the choice was almost overwhelming but unfortunately Noel has to watch out for very spicy food, of which there was a lot,  and avoid any sign of Garlic which seemed to be in most things so after looking at various types of chicken, beef, fish and curries and/or salads we decided to go for sandwiches, Noel ordered a Roast Beef baguette whilst Jennifer had Tuna and something sandwich and both were excellent and washed down with a large bottle of water.

After lunch we wandered the streets and headed for the Library only to find it was closed as it was ‘Martin Luther King’ day and so most government facilities were closed except in the private sector everybody carried on as normal. Whilst waiting outside the Library our daughter called with some sad news which seemed to put a blot on the rest of the day.

As previously mentioned , we are due to go on a cruise on 4th February and of course Cruise Ships have a strong policies for taking one’s own wine on board as they want you to buy there rubbish on on board, a normal low priced bottle of wine on board is a minimum of USD 30.00 plus tip. whilst they do allow, unlike some other carriers, you to bring on one bottle each of wine, and for any more you pay a USD 18.00 corkage, which is not cheap. When we first arrived here we visited Costco and purchased some of their Malbec, which we know from Costco UK, and also some Sonoma Valley Chardonnay and both are very good and only $ 6.99 per bottle. So whilst in Sarasota we dropped by Costco and stocked up with wine for the next three weeks and sloe some for the Boat trip as $6.99 plus $18.00 is still a lot cheaper than on the boat for a quality wine.
By 16.30 we headed home and stopped by Publix and purchased some of their excellent sushi which we ate that evening with a glass of Chardonnay, ah heaven!!
Another evening of TV with two episodes of The Crown and also Two episodes of the Nightwatchman. And so to bed after a really great day out