Trip to Dali Museum and Chihuly Collection

Salvador Dali Museum, Chihuly Collection, and Hotshop

Saint Petersburg, FL

Thursday, December 26, 2013

We woke up and got some continental breakfast at La Quinta Inn and drove to Salvador Dali Museum in downtown Saint Petersburg, FL. The traffic was light and there were not many people at the parking lot when we arrived at 10 AM. We bought the tickets and went through the museum in few hours. We perused the gift shop and bought some posters.

Then we drove to Chihuly Collection at 400 Beach Drive. We bought the combination tickets for the Chihuly collection and the Hotshop. The parking was difficult to find. We had to park on the road with parking meters running $0.25/15 minutes. We went through the collection as part of a guided tour that took about 1 1/2 hour. We then drove to nearby fast food restaurant (most of the food near Chihuly Collection featured lots of seafood).

From the fast food place we drove directly to the Glass Shop and Hot Shop in Central Avenue for our 3 PM appointment (we had the option of visiting Hot Shop at 1, 2, 3, and 4 PM; we choose the 3 PM; no need to pre-book time). Mr Doug showed us how to make a glass art piece. We were able to chat with him bit more after the end of the show.

We then traveled to International Plaza and Bay Street shopping mall for some purchase. We then grabbed some food on the way and stopped by some other stores before heading to our hotel for the night.

Trip to Tampa

Hindu Temple of Florida, Tampa

5099 Lynn Road, Tampa

Wednesday, Dec 25, 2013

We left in the late morning from home and drove via I-10E and then I-75S and via I-275S to reach the Hindu temple of Florida, Tampa. On the way we stopped and ate some lunch that we brought with us since finding places to eat on Christmas Day is difficult.

By the time we arrived at the temple it was almost 3 PM. Fortunately, the temple was open and we spend about an hour at the temple, doing archana, and looking at the idols and other new features since we haven't been here for years.

Then we went to the canteen on the NE corner of the temple premises. Fortunately, they had masala dosa and tea. We ate at the canteen and spend some more time in the temple before going to our hotel La Quinta Inn in nearby road.