Winter Park Rendezvous

Oh - good grief! Blogger is really frustrating. I have collected so many great real estate photos of Winter Park and I am unable to get them in order because of this ridiculous program! I'll try to make sense of it all...

I spent the last week with my mom. We ended the visit in the Orlando area as my step-dad had a meeting in Orlando and I ended up travelling there to spend more time with her while he was in his meeting. We spent the day in lovely Winter Park. Winter Park is located north of Orlando, just east of I-4.

Winter Park was founded as a resort destination by wealthy New England industrialists before the turn of the 20th century. It really has a small town feel even though it is right on the edge of Orlando. The population is about 28,000. There is more park space per capita here than any other city in Florida.

The shops of Olde Winter Park...

Winter Park is built around a chain of lakes that are connected by narrow canals. The lakes are only 10 to 15 feet deep - perfect for sculling and water skiing. Many of the streets are brick and lined with huge Live Oak trees draped in Spanish Moss. Winter Park is the home of Rollins College - a small, liberal arts, private, college with a very high price tag. Winter Park is also the home of the world's largest collection of Tiffany glass housed at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art.

If you ever get to this area, you MUST take a boat tour. The tour guides were knowledgeable and the tour afforded us a great view of the gorgeous homes in this area. We took a tour and travelled from lake to lake through the narrow canals. It was really neat!

Boat houses like this one were behind most of the homes. It looked so peaceful!

OK, this is where Blogger really messed me up! I would have liked to grouped the interior photos with the exterior photos of each home, but Blogger won't let me move the photos for some reason! Ughhhhh...

Many of the homes are historic, built in the 1920s and 1930s. I like this Spanish style living room...

A few kitchens...

A beautiful new bathroom...I love the tile work in the shower.

I like the mix of light mouldings and window casings with the dark stained doors.

This Charleston style home is listed as a short sale at $1,299,000. I love this style. I like the dark pool and all the brickwork.

This house photo was supposed to be grouped with the bathroom photo above. Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Interior...

This home has so many built in bookshelves, etc. Love it!

One of the rare contemporary style homes...

Bonus - Casey Affleck owns a home in Winter Park! I loved him in The Assassignation of Jesse James.

If anyone can suggest a better way to blog, please let me know. I am so tired of fighting with Blogger. There has to be an easier way...

All photos are from RealEstate.com and Google Images.

Je t'aime Paris!

Oh gosh, I have been neglecting my blog! This post is about the Paris portion of our summer trip. Paris is beautiful to say the least. It is also different than any other city on Earth. It is obvious that beauty is a high priority in the French culture. In Paris, some sort of beauty is everywhere. The buildings, the trees, the monuments, the people, the food, the street performers, the art, the flowers - they are all beautiful in different ways.

We drove down the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe. The traffic was horrendous but it was worth it because the Arc is so large and impressive. It was built in 1836 during the reign of Louis Philippe. Since 1920, it houses the tomb of France's Unknown Soldier and commemorates the dead of World Wars I and II. It is really breathtakingly beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes!



We visited the Louvre, of course. We even took naps in the lawn just outside.

We saw the Mona Lisa. There were so many other people also visiting the Mona Lisa - WOW!

This is a better shot of the mysterious lady.

We saw the Venus de Milo, too. She was created sometime between 130 and 100 BC and is believed to depict the Greek goddess, Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty).

We took a train to the Chateau de Versailles. Days could be spent here exploring the gardens. It was a little eerie touring the chateau because I kept thinking of the mob of people invading the palace during the Revolution. I was also amazed at the access given to the hoards of people touring the building. I wish I could have toured the kitchen area and the work rooms, etc.

How strange that the Treaty of Versailles was signed here in the Hall of Mirrors ending World War I? The history associated with this place is mind boggling.

The Chapel....

We stayed at Hotel du Louvre which was really nice, right in the heart of things.

Isn't the bar beautiful?

The lobby is also very pretty.

We visited the Paris Catacombs. There are over 1 million people's bones in this particular catacomb. Over 6 million Parisians are in all the catacombs!

The Seine...so pretty!

I love the art installations around the city.

We ate at a neat little restaurant called Quai Quai on the Ile de la Citi. The food was fabulous and the service was excellent.

Sidewalk street performers...

We climbed the stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The lines were too long to wait for an elevator! The Eiffel Tower itself is way more beautiful than I thought it would be. It is amazing how much thought went into making the structure beautiful. It is more than just a tower.

Me at the Jardins du Palais-Royal. There was a group of men playing boule on the other side of the trees. It was so neat and relaxed and enjoyed by many.

The view from our hotel balcony...

The next post will cover Bourgogne and some of the countryside. Au revoir!

London Highlights...

I am back from London and France. We had a great time! I am posting just a few photos from the London portion of the trip.

We only spent five days in London but covered a lot of ground!

The streets were clean and beautiful.

The street signs were very polite, too!

We rode the London Eye the first day. It offered a bird's eye view of the city.

We visited the National War Museum one afternoon.

It is very interesting. I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting London.

There was a neat exhibit featuring a complete home from WWII

with all original furniture, groceries, etc. that showed how people

lived during the war -

always waiting for a bomb.

I saw lots of "KEEP CALM - CARRY ON"

posters.

The London Tower was cool. We saw the Crown jewels. Of course, I was drawn to these bright blue doors next to the dark brick - so smart!

The weather was beautiful, cool, and clear.

We walked through Kensington Park and Hyde Park.

It was wonderful!

There were off-leash dogs everywhere - all so well behaved!

The flowers were beautiful. It was definitely the most beautiful park I have ever seen.

We went to the Portobello Street Market one day. There was so much to see! Antiques, clothing, food, fruit, flowers, musicians, street performers!

I ate this yummy tart and did a lot of people watching.

We went to a wonderful market in Greenwich, too.

It was really fabulous because there were booths with handmade items, one of a kind clothing, food, and even a psychic/stylist that could update your look

and

tell you about your future at the same time!

I didn't visit that booth because I was too afraid of what he might say about both

my future and my fashion!

Isn't this funny?

I wonder how many knives it collected?

Stay tuned - my next post will feature Paris!