Step 39: Sarasota day 6

Sarasota Day 6:

View from Island park

The morning was a bit lazy as we got ourselves dressed and ready. Sida had lunch plans with some friends’ in downtown Sarasota so I planned to spend that time walking around taking pictures. Sida first showed me where she would be having lunch and gave me a quick driving tour so I could orientate myself, then she dropped me off on Bay Front drive right near the Island Park.

I had quite a bit of time to kill via Sida’s instructions on how long her lunch would last-- so I lazily walked. I walked along the Island Park where people were running, exercising, strolling, playing with their kids or walking their dogs, and I captured what I could via lens.

After that I walked along Bay Front Drive along the water til I got to the massive structure that is both famous and infamous in Sarasota; the Unconditional Surrender Statue. Despite local complaints about the statue, it is quite a tourist attraction and I ended up taking loads of photos for couples as they stood beneath it kissing. The statue is a recreation of a very famous photo taken in 1945 and definitely has you feeling passionate and a bit silly as you stand beneath it. But I loved it.

Unconditional Surrender

After some time there I headed into downtown Sarasota and did some window shopping. I had lunch in Whole Foods and eventually met up with Sida when she was finished with her lunch. One spot I had seen on my walk was a frozen yogurt shop that looked awesome. So, I convinced Sida we had to try it. Whiteberry…cool décor and damn good frozen yogurt. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarasota-FL/Whiteberry/89327916872
Not only was it good, but the guy taking the orders was unbelievably passionate about selling the stuff. He was about 20 years old and when Sida and I asked for a bit of info he excitedly took off into a full description of why this stuff is so awesome and the differences between what they do and what other people do. It was invigorating to see someone who actually was passionate about what he was doing. It made the stuff taste even better to know the people selling it love it so much.  http://www.sarasotatalk.com/2009/10/frozen-yogurt-oasis/

The rest of the day I spent packing, organizing the next few days, and I went to Amazon.com and purchased a new hand held camera. Sida made dinner and gave me a Buddhist chants CD and we said goodnight with our lists and plans made for tomorrow.