Be Careful Out There Among Them English, Especially in Sarasota

The John Ringling Museum in Sarasota is a fun day trip if you live in the State of Florida. (If you live in the state, almost everything is a day trip potential). The Ringling's had an incredible house - the likes of which make you go DANG I wish I had more money, and imagine a Gatsby style party on the back patio. And wishing that I was invited.
I know exactly what I would wear.....
They also have an art collection that I've never seen rivaled.
I realize other people in the world have had and DO have better collections of art. But frankly, little ole me has never seen anything like this. Not from a PRIVATE collection. Did you know that Rubens painted on canvases bigger than the side of my house? I didn't. They were breathtaking. I don't even know how you keep a sense of scale or perspective and paint like that. There was so much to see, it was awesome.
My children however thought otherwise. One of them cried and fussed to such and extent the husband and I ended up taking them out and Griswalding the rest of the museum on our own in turns. They were having a special exhibit of Jewelry which I thought was fascinating.
Here is what I learned there.
Fashion comes and goes, but good taste in jewelry hasn't changed in the last 5000 years. Truly classic pieces keep being recreated - the things I saw from 5000 years ago were so similar to jewelry being made today it was striking. I really enjoyed it.
But the big attraction for the tiny humans was the Circus museum which has been dramatically upgraded. It used to be a building with a few circus wagons, some musty costumes and a rather wonderful miniature circus. They added a new pavilion and a huge, completely over the top miniature collection. So the whining and the fussing stopped directly and we took in the the Circus. It was almost as good as going to the Circus, without all the poop.

The art museum has a lot of the collection online. Which doesn't give the collection justice. The gardens are normally gorgeous but the roses were not in bloom yet so we didn't get to enjoy them really - however the courtyard at the art museum is always really nice.

After the big day at the museum we headed off for a surprise dinner, The Husband had secretly knowledge of a restaurant designed to delight - at least me. YODERS If you are from Indiana you know that Yoders = AMISH. That's right, an AMISH restaurant. I highly recommend it. It was a little unsettling - we turned a corner in Sarasota and were besieged by Amish. Okay we weren't besieged. They're not the besieging sort. But suddenly, there were AMISH/MENNONITES everywhere. The wonderful thing about eating Amish food is that the Amish don't really HAVE vices, so they put a lot of energy into the FOOD they serve as a PLEASURE.
Oh man. It was just fantastic. If you have the means or are in the area - SEEK IT OUT. SO good. We were good mannered and didn't snap any photos inside, as it is bad manners. However, I did take a picture of the pie we bought and brought home, just to taunt you.