Do you remember the Ringling Brothers? Of course not, you never met ’em! But do you remember the NAME Ringling Brothers? In 1870, five brothers from McGregor, Iowa founded what later became the biggest circus in history. John Ringling lived until 1936; by then, he had amassed quite a fortune from the circus and subsequent investments. Some of that fortune went into building an opulent winter home in Sarasota, Florida, while a substantial amount was used to purchase works of art and build a world-class art museum on the grounds of that winter home. Fittingly, a circus museum has since been added to the property. I had heard great things about the home, the art museum, and the circus museum. So much so, that I decided to allow two full days to see it all…and it was a good decision.

I don’t have any specific interest in circuses, yet the circus museum alone held my attention for an entire day. I learned a lot about the circus, and I learned something else…my vision correction needs correcting. Some of the exhibits in the circus museum had fairly small print, and none of the three focals in my trifocals were providing the right amount of light bending. So I spent much of the afternoon with my glasses in my hand, and my face practically on top of the items on exhibit. This is what happens when a Cedric stops working and no longer has Vision Coverage. So now I am faced with the question: Should I get a new pair of glasses, or have lasers slice into my eyeballs?

I am also learning that my back doesn’t like for me to be on my feet all day. This is the second day in a row where my back started hurting, seemingly from just walking/standing around. My guess is that this is caused by the slouch that occurs with Parkinson’s. The back pain goes away if I just sit down, and when each new dose of medication kicks in.

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After spending a day at the circus museum, and a night at a hotel in Bradenton, I returned to the Ringling estate to tour the mansion. Unfortunately, only the first floor is open to the public at present. Fortunately, the first floor is very much worth seeing on its own. What would you call a courtyard if it were indoors? John Ringling called his a court, and it was (for me) the highlight of the mansion. The ceiling is so high that I felt like I was in a zeppelin hangar. If zeppelin hangars had works of art incorporated into their ceilings, that is.

Speaking of works of art, next it was time for the Ringling Art Museum. This place was amazing! Several of the paintings on display were bigger than any I’ve seen in any other art museum – some were even bigger than the giant Salvador Dali paintings I had seen just a few days prior! I know that bigger doesn’t mean better when it comes to art, but a few of these left me pondering the question…how the Hell did they ship these? After walking through all of the galleries in this vast museum, I found myself wondering, where are all the sculptures? Then I stepped out into the courtyard. Yup, found ’em. I didn’t attempt to count them, but there must have been DOZENS of statues lining the roof of the building, with another couple dozen sculptures scattered around the grounds of the courtyard.

I finished the day with a jaunt out to Leffis Key and Coquina Beach…