Florida on the road

Flight Cagliari - Rome - Newark (New York) - Orlando (Florida).

Stefania and I conceived this vacation back in the summer, when Erika, a very dear friend of ours, invited us to come visit her in the United States in Florida, where she's been working at the Disney Epcot park for almost a year. After various phone calls and bookings, our trip begins today, early in the morning, with the 6:55 Cagliari - Rome flight. It's the only reason we went into a travel agency because the main flight Rome - Newark - Orlando was booked online through Expedia.it. I was struck by the timeliness with which the plane tickets arrived at home and by the price paid of only € 477 round trip. We arrive in Rome at 8:00 but we have to wait until 14:30 to board Continental Airlines flight 43. The seats are 28L and 28K near the window.

A mere 6888 km await us to reach Newark, an airport not far from Manhattan, right in the center of New York, which our Boeing 767-200 will cover in about 9 hours of long waiting. In the meantime, we at least take the opportunity to watch a nice film on the screen: "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones, fortunately also dubbed in Italian. I find it very nice, beyond expectations, so much so that I then try to watch it again in English to start chewing on a bit of American accent. After all, there's not much else to do... Shortly before landing in Newark we're given the entry form for the States. I had read and heard about the stupidity of the questions you have to answer, but I didn't believe it was at this level.

It's rather disappointing to believe that Americans think a terrorist could answer yes to the question: "are you a criminal or a terrorist?" or "have you come to America to commit criminal acts?" or even "have you taken any minor from an American citizen?" and so on... With the clarification, at the end of these ten brilliant questions, that if you answer even just a "yes" to one of them, you should present yourself to the authorities as soon as you disembark at the airport, who might refuse to stamp your entry visa into the country. No comment. We land when it's already pitch dark and among the thousand lights of New York I can't orient myself or recognize any famous monument. We have roughly an hour and a half for the connection with the flight to Orlando.

In the meantime we lose a lot of time at the passport control, where they give us a bit of trouble, even though mine is machine-readable as mandatory since this September. On top of that, they register us from head to toe, taking fingerprints, snapping a photo, and checking everything, even our shoes. Foreigners don't feel so much welcomed it seems, at least lately... I set my watch back 6 hours, such is the time difference here compared to Italy, and at 19:25 the plane takes off for Orlando. Another 1510 km with Continental flight 1692 on a Boeing 737-800, and we finally set foot in Florida at 22:15. After picking up the suitcases, we immediately find, to our surprise, Erika who has come to pick us up together with Francesca. From here we go to the Pop Century hotel, inside the Disney area, which she kindly booked for us for two nights.

To distract us a little and start getting into the atmosphere, she then takes us to a steak-house to eat a nice big 16-ounce New York Strip steak (a very widespread dish) with the half-liter of refillable coke. In American, it's called "refill", that is, you pay for the first drink and then refill it as many times as you want. The place is very nice and lively. There's some rugby match and you hear indistinct shouts of boys and girls like back in the days of the World Cup final. Very picturesque and American, it's really a great way to start savoring the U.S.A.!

Disney World and theme parks: Pop Century hotel; Magic Kingdom; Epcot

After a not very long sleep, our goal today is to make the most of the two free tickets Erika obtained for us to enter the Disney parks. They're two little cards and they're valid for all four theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, MGM studios. The only worry is that they're only valid for one day, and since it's clearly impossible to visit them all, we choose the first two by preference. In the meantime we observe the Pop Century by day while we head toward the shuttles that take you to the parks. It's really pretty and funny, with lots of enormous animal statues in a completely cartoonish style, as a Disney classic. It's divided into three sections, each themed around a decade of the last few decades. The room is also comfortable, clean and spacious, paid 66 dollars per night.

We pass a fake foosball table (the one with the rods and red and blue players, just to be clear, each of which is three times my height!), we take a photo with Goofy and go outside where the buses for the parks pass. Impossible to go wrong, each one has the name of the park it goes to. So we take the "Magic Kingdom" around 9:30 and arrive at the entrance of the first and most famous Disney park after about twenty minutes. The card really works and we enter without even much of a line, but as usual we waste time at the checks, here too peremptory. You have to open your backpack, take out the cameras, the bags, etc. Bombs can be hidden anywhere, let's get that into our heads...

We take a map from the appropriate containers and start calmly by taking the scenic train and going around the park, then we return to Main Street and stroll among the little shops up to Cinderella's castle, where Mickey Mouse and the Disney gang come out in parade. For the first attraction we go to Tomorrowland on the Space Mountain, roller coasters totally in the dark and a bit claustrophobic. A bit traumatized we return to the relaxing Fantasyland seeing PhilharMagic, a new 3D show of Donald Duck at the cinema, very realistic and hilarious, with water sprays, wind and a grand finale of special effects.

At Frontierland we stop a bit longer, entering the Haunted Mansion, the classic haunted house with decent special effects (it's practically identical to the one at Eurodisney), taking the steamboat that goes around the lake, visiting Tom Sawyer Island and screaming on the Big Thunder Mountain. A note of merit for the Splash Mountain, hilarious water roller coasters and made with great attention to detail, with a big final plunge into the void where you get wet at will! Also nice is Pirates & Caribbean at Adventureland. We finish in glory with the Mad T-cup, the classic spinning cups where you romantically get in as a pair to altruistically suffer together the endless final dizziness... It's already afternoon and it's time to take the monorail that connects the different parks: destination Epcot. The usual entrance with checks, map and off to other amusements.

We take the little cars that enter the huge sphere that characterizes the entrance of this futuristic park, completing an epic loop between ascent and descent on the history of the Earth. Then we make the mistake, at least for me, of going to Mission Space, a simulator of a space mission to Mars. The attraction is super intense and very well made, but suitable for the strongest of stomachs... You spend a lot of time before getting to the heart of it with the commander's explanations, the mission objective, etc. Then you enter the cabin and here the massacre begins. A visual screen shows the images. You set off inside a rocket experiencing the astronauts' gravitational acceleration: in a nutshell, a terrible sense of oppression and physical compression! Up to here it's exciting.

The real pain begins when you go beyond the atmosphere and enter space, with gravitational jolts comparable to the worst air pockets ever experienced so far on a plane. Conclusion: Disney should thank me for not having stained the precious seats of the spaceship with the Hot Dog lunch from a few hours earlier... We opt for something calmer, entering "The Living Seas", a sort of aquarium with various animal species typical of Florida. We see dolphins for the first time and the mighty and gentle manatees. At this point 19:00 is approaching, the park's closing time, and we have to choose another attraction nearby. Almost by chance we end up on another 3D show titled "Honey I shrunk the audience", dedicated to the film "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", this one also full of special effects and very hilarious, considering that this time it's the audience that gets shrunk...

Once the rides are done we head to the second area of the park (Showcase) which closes at 21:00, dedicated to different pavilions of different nations. These days they're particularly lively for the "Food & Wine" festival. We pass the stalls and the Mexican, Norwegian, Chinese and German restaurants, each themed with decorations, shapes and typical products of the places of origin. We thus arrive halfway, while we walk along the huge lake in the center of the park, at the "Da Alfredo" restaurant, clearly of the Italian pavilion, characterized by a reproduction of St. Mark's Square in Venice. These Americans are really good at copying, damn! Here we meet Erika and Francesca, who tell us to wait for closing to see the fireworks.

How could we miss them!? We stroll a bit more among the American and Japanese pavilions, and we come across an open-air stage where we watch a nice live little concert by some famous group of yesteryear: a lovely atmosphere! The time for the fireworks arrives, a real narrated show titled "Illumination: Reflection of the Earth", with a globe navigating in the center of the lake, awesome lights and stupendous fireworks: beautiful! A worthy conclusion to the visit of the Disney parks. To exit, we take an alternative route: the employees' one (like Erika), who at the end of work vanish through the secondary doors of the staff. Seen from this perspective, all the magic of the park disappears, taking on the likeness of any other place where goods are loaded and unloaded, where people rush hurriedly through banal corridors, warehouses, etc.

We return to our Pop Century with Erika and Francesca, who are keeping us company tonight so we'll already be ready, tomorrow morning at 4, to take the taxi that will take us to the Orlando airport to await the flight to Las Vegas. A five-day journey in the West awaits us!

Las Vegas - Grand Canyon

This 5-day trip to the West is described separately, also on this site, and in my personal one with added photos and descriptions:

Las Vegas - Dallas (Texas)- Orlando (Florida); Kissimme

The return flight from Las Vegas departs at 15:50, covering the same route as the outbound trip, with a stopover in Dallas. Because of the three-hour time difference, we arrive in Orlando after 23:00. We rent a car for me and Stefania for all the remaining days of the trip, during which we'll do the Florida loop. We always choose Alamo, but we're a bit surprised by the price. Even though, thanks to Erika and Francesca, now experts in the procedures, we manage to get a discount on the initial total, it still seems to me much more expensive than the price I had imagined when trying to book online with Expedia before leaving. In any case, we take a Chevrolet Cavalier, considered in the standard category, two-door, with a trunk just right for our suitcases and various backpacks, reasonably well-equipped and comfortable.

The important thing is that it has a car radio with a CD player for music! We stay in Kissimmee at the Comfort Inn in a room for $66 a night, drive Erika and Francesca back to their Disney resort accommodations, and can finally go to sleep thinking about our new trip: Florida on the road!

Interstate 4 north to St. Augustine; Castillo de San Marco; St. George street; 95 south to Daytona

After a continental breakfast at the motel, we drive to pick up Erika at her accommodation and go to a bank to exchange euros for dollars. More than a bank, it looks like a park: at the entrance there's a beautiful garden with palms, water flowing everywhere, in an atmosphere of relaxation and pleasant coolness, which is really welcome on a scorching sunny day like this. For us, even hotter since until yesterday we were freezing in the West of the States! Erika does some transactions on her account and converts the money, at the current exchange rate of 1.21 dollars for 1 euro; not bad these days. We say goodbye to her in the parking lot and after a few turns we get on Interstate 4 north toward Daytona. From here we continue along the coast on the 95, stopping shortly before St. Augustine at just any beach, just to satisfy the whim of seeing the ocean.

There's almost no one around, we park near an isolated wooden structure (which looks like one of our beach clubs) and reach the beach crossing a wooden walkway. The place is beautiful and atmospheric, but there's too much wind to stay, so we go back to the car and arrive in St. Augustine in northeastern Florida around 15:00, the first stop of our loop around the peninsula! We start with a visit to the fort, the Castillo de San Marcos, built by the Spanish at the end of the 1600s and never conquered. It was used by the American military until 1900 and finally made a National Monument in 1924. We pay for parking, the entrance where we're given a brochure in Italian with all the information, and begin the visit. You cross the drawbridge over the moat and enter the structure, which preserves perfectly solid and intact walls.

Various rooms describe the hard life of the times and of the soldiers who shut themselves inside the fort during periods of war. Stairs then lead to the terrace, with the display of cannons and the beautiful, evocative view of the sea on one side of the fort, and of the town of St. Augustine on the other. Once the visit is over we take the car and reach the Visitor Center a little further on. We see some cute squirrels climbing on the roofs and an enormous cat that looks like Stefania's, twice as big and with a big face that recalls a tiger's: but why is everything in America so exaggerated? From the visitor center you immediately reach the center of St. Augustine on foot, with some pedestrian streets like St. George Street, really lovely with all its artisan and souvenir shops, colonial-style houses, the oldest school in Florida still standing and little things like that.

A stroll that's worth it, and that can't help but end with tasting one of the many delicacies from the numerous pastry shops of sweets, bread and chocolate. We opt for the caramel apple, which Erika recommended as a real treat! A bit hard to enjoy on the street to be honest, with all the caramel stringing and sticking to your teeth and the apple nice and firm to bite into... too sweet for our tastes! It's already getting dark around 17:30 and places are starting to close too, so we go back to the car and take a drive around the town's streets. We reach the harbor and right behind it we cross a truly beautiful neighborhood of typical American wooden residential houses: I'd say real villas immersed in greenery and total relaxation.

We head back to Daytona following the coastal A1A, spotting one after another splendid little houses, resorts (now deserted, but surely very lively in high season), rich people's villas and lots of boats at the docks. No buildings and no concrete, all single-family wooden houses. It's just like in the movies then. Even though the road is the outermost one toward the coast, you see rivers, small lakes but never the ocean, hidden by the resorts, the vegetation or simply by sand dunes. I'm forced to park for a moment and cross the wooden walkways again to see it! Once in Daytona, we stay on the A1A, which crosses it entirely, easily finding various motels lined up one after another. We choose the Budget Inn with a room at $40 a night. Having a microwave and fridge, for dinner we buy something quick at a supermarket and go to rest.

Ponce Inlet Lightouse; Kennedy Space Center; A1A south to West Palm Beach

We leave Daytona following A1A south for a good stretch, until we reach the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. The entrance ticket costs $5 and allows you to visit both the lighthouse and the park around it, which includes some structures used as a museum. First we reach the top by climbing the endless spiral steps of the lighthouse, where from above you enjoy a remarkable view of the coast and of Daytona. Here too, I'm amazed by the fact that the only multi-story buildings that we commonly call apartment blocks or condos are exclusively in the center of the renowned motor racing city (and are mostly hotels and resorts); for the rest, you only see the usual single-family wooden houses with a lawn garden around them and a sloped roof, spread spaciously across the surrounding plain.

Nice life these Americans have here! It's curious how the lighthouse is so far from the coast and ends up a few hundred meters as the crow flies inland. We quickly visit the museum, with archaeological finds, underwater artifacts and historical descriptions, and walk a bit along the path around the park's fence. Ten meters after the entrance, every sign of civilization disappears and it feels like being in the middle of a tropical jungle! We go back to the car, look for the entrance to the 95 south, finding a bit of traffic, though always flowing, and try to speed up to reach the Kennedy Space Center at noon sharp. It's in fact late to visit an attraction like this that requires a whole day, but we try anyway.

The entrance costs a good $36 each (and that's the basic ticket, not the one that includes the space simulator), and on top of that they also give you a healthy dose of annoyance for the usual meticulous security checks. This time, something that hadn't happened yet, besides opening our backpacks they make us turn on all electronic devices to be sure they work (and therefore that they're real and there aren't atomic bombs inside), like for example cell phones, cameras and even the video camera. Not only that: since I have several lenses for my digital SLR, they even make me open the lens to show that the glass is visible from side to side, and take a random photo to be sure it shows up on the LCD on the back, and that maybe there isn't instead a disguised Molotov cocktail....

And thank goodness Stefy managed to turn on her cell phone for an instant, since its battery has been dead since yesterday as our charger doesn't work with American outlets, otherwise they would have confiscated it on the spot... when it's too much it's too much, come on! After twenty minutes lost to the checks, we can finally enter the space center, and it's already lunchtime. We immediately stop at one of the outdoor tables, where dozens of birds similar to black crows shamelessly come up to peck at some crumbs of food, and we get two hot dogs and a Coke. It seems incredible, but they're the most expensive and smallest sandwiches I've seen so far not only in the States, but in my whole life! But two sandwiches like that are insignificant for an Italian stomach, let alone an American one! It's all very disappointing, a myth is falling for me....

The first part to visit is undoubtedly the one reachable only with the special buses that make a long tour inside the space area. We stand in a decently long line, witnessing once again the American sense of civility and perfect organization in respecting order and quiet, and even in the forefront of giving full assistance to the disabled with priority lines, special wheelchairs that go up on the bus with a dedicated system, helped by the driver and the staff. Thus begins our tour along the long roads of the Kennedy Space Center, enlivened by the driver's explanations and the video shown on the small screens of the bus, which explain how along the canals at the sides of the road you can admire the flora and fauna of a stunning natural oasis such as Cape Canaveral (including the alligators that roam everywhere!).

We circle around the enormous Vehicle Assembly Building, and then continue to LC 39, a panoramic observation center that lets you admire from afar both shuttle launch pads LC-39A and LC-39B. We stay about ten minutes and get on the next bus, which continues the tour to the Apollo Saturn V Center. Here instead we stay much longer, first to follow the thrilling presentation that simulates the launch of Apollo as seen from the control center (beautiful for enthusiasts, almost moving at the moment of liftoff!), then to see with our own eyes what is the real Apollo V rocket with its various stages, in an immense hangar. It's truly enormous, tall and very long! We return to the Visitor Complex and it's already 16:00.

We have very little time before closing, so we quickly choose to take a quick close-up look at the now-retired Shuttle, which can be visited inside, dash into a shop to get some souvenirs, and attend the last exciting 17:00 IMAX 3D show. As we leave the cinema everything is already closing, and we head toward the parking lots passing through the Rocket Garden, a large square converted into an open-air museum of rockets. At 18:00 we leave the Kennedy Space Center taking the 95 south for a very long stretch. We want to try to get as close as possible to Fort Lauderdale for tomorrow morning, but the road really seems never to end. At 22:00, exhausted from 4 hours of driving, we take exit 808 and get on the A1A south, the coastal road, where we fill up with gas and look for a motel for the night.

We don't even know exactly where we are, since American signage focuses its attention a lot on numbers and direction of roads, but not on the names of the towns or villages you're entering or leaving. For sure, we're near Boca Raton judging by our road map. We find a good place to stay at the Ashley Brooke Motel for $65. The room is practically an apartment, with an enormous king-size bed, carpet on the floor, tons of space, a kitchen with a table, fridge, microwave, cutlery and pots, and of course the bathroom. Plus we're on the second floor with a nice view toward the motel's indoor pool: it really seems a shame to stay only one night!

Fort Lauderdale; Miami: South Beach, Collins Avenue, Ocean Drive

We resume driving along the coastal A1A south around 10:00. The traffic and traffic lights make us lose a bit of time, though we get to savor up close the reality of American beach life. At noon we stop at the Fort Lauderdale shoreline. There's quite a bit of wind but the temperature is warm, though not enough to inspire a swim in the rough ocean. Finally a bit of relaxation after so many miles! The beach is decent but not exceptional, I expected a better place from the accounts I'd read about Florida. It should be noted though that we're at a random spot on a shoreline so long it seems endless, so in the absence of directions we could certainly have ended up in one of the less beautiful stretches. At 13:00 we resume the coastal road south, quickly reaching Miami.

Bridges and skyscrapers start to appear and the roads widen to 4 and 5 lanes: we enter once again one of the many Hollywood movies, this time even more strikingly because, in Miami, an incalculable number have been filmed, starting with the crime ones above all. We stop at our first American Mall (shopping center), to look for an internet point and contact our friend Erika and also to eat. You seriously have to consider the possibility of getting lost in the maze and wandering around for a whole day, so the first thing to do is rely on the guide board of shops and services. And it's not true that there's an internet point, seriously? Here in the USA, in Miami, in a Mall with 100 shops, 10 restaurants, 20 phone booths? I approach a storefront of electronic equipment to ask for information and they confirm that indeed there isn't one.

I think I took it too much for granted that you'd find them everywhere but that's not the case! Let's at least go for lunch then: in front of us there's a seductive Italian buffet we can't resist! You pay by weight and so you fill your plate with whatever you want, paying at the register only based on the actual weight and not the type of dish. We find some really interesting things and have a first-rate lunch spending less than $20 for the two of us. We resume the coastal road and find ourselves on Collins Avenue (the famous street of skyscrapers on the beach) without even realizing it. We drive it all the way from north until we reach the trendiest part of these years: South Beach and Ocean Drive, where we find the Haddon Hotel, of which I had a page printed from the internet, which is located right in front of the intersection between the two main streets.

The price of a double room goes up to $100 but we're in downtown Miami and a stone's throw from the beach, so we don't think twice and book for tonight. I'm amazed by the parking situation, which is really critical even for the hotels themselves. Some have equipped themselves with underground garages, others like the Haddon have just 5 parking spaces in front of the entrance. With a nice stroke of luck, we find a free one where I leave the car instantly. It's certain that I won't move it from here until tomorrow! We settle the suitcases in the room (really very nice, all strictly in Art Deco style) and here we are, ready in swimsuit and flip-flops to cross the street and reach the famous Miami beach.

Which doesn't disappoint expectations at all, on the contrary: it really leaves me amazed! The beach is very beautiful, immense, well-equipped with the wooden huts of the legendary Baywatch, the patrols that patrol from time to time, the showers, the facilities and so on. There's everything but without exaggeration. Even the skyscrapers in the background fade into the background, and you breathe an atmosphere of relaxation, space and fun. And there aren't even that many people, in fact, there's almost no one... clearly we're not in high season! The ocean is also calm and the water absolutely clean, though obviously not crystal-clear like our Mediterranean. You don't see much movement of boats, speedboats and water sports in general, just some immense cruise ship leaving from the distant port at the tip of the peninsula, probably headed for the Caribbean.

Seagulls and little birds are the undisputed masters of the shoreline and make the beach even more natural and lively. The first thing that comes to mind is that we regret having chosen to stay in Miami only one day! Toward sunset the sand takes on a beautiful yellow color and we walk a little until we get back onto Ocean Drive, full of little restaurants and venues of every kind, always full of people. The Cuban influence is noticeable everywhere, and how! We go back to the hotel, take a quick dip in the pool (where the water is freezing!), use the laundry service with the many coins accumulated during the trip, and even find the sought-after internet point in the main hall. Of course, calling a single computer an internet point, and an antiquated one at that, extremely slow, with a pathetic connection and lots of limitations, is an insult here in the USA, but we make do anyway.

To wrap up the evening we go out again on Ocean Drive (and finally, besides the venues, there's also some real internet point worthy of the name...) where you almost walk shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk and the street is always very busy with nice sports cars and some limousines. We're in the midst of Miami's nightlife!

Miami: Coral Gables and Venetian Pool; U.S. 1 south towards the Keys: Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon

After another short walk along Collins Avenue, we leave South Beach and drive around the streets of Miami, always following the 1 south. We cross the atmospheric bridge that connects the peninsula to the city center, where you recognize the characteristic skyline present in every film, as well as even the same streets from the most renowned action chases: first of all, for the occasion, the one from Bad Boys II which I'd just seen before leaving! All that's missing is Will Smith's "Welcome to Miami" on the radio and we're all set... even the houses around are just like we see in the movies: obviously wooden, the usual vast lawn, the little lake with the small dock and the little boat, really cute.

The enormous interchanges too, the wide roads and the immense spaces give a completely different image of American roads and cities compared to our Italian ones: you just can't make the comparison. Only in some stretches is the traffic heavy but always flowing. I thought I'd have all the time to check my map between one traffic light and the next to decide where to turn, and instead nothing could be more wrong! In any case, we manage to arrive one way or another in the Coral Gables neighborhood, suggested by our guidebook as one of the most beautiful with several interesting things to visit. After driving down a few small streets, we immediately realize that actually "beautiful" is a completely offensive term to describe this place.

First of all, it doesn't even feel like being in a city, so great is the greenery of the lawns and the trees that tower with their branches over the two-lane little streets where very few cars pass in complete tranquility at 15 mph. The sense of relaxation is absolute: no annoying noise, no traffic, no traffic lights (there are only 4-way stops that drivers civilly respect, but for us Italians I'd say "uproariously," even though there's no one as far as the eye can see), and the villas... well, the villas are really to die for! It's certainly a very, very wealthy neighborhood of Miami, full of important people! We drive at a snail's pace for a few miles, stunned by so much splendor, until we reach the Venetian Pool.

This is an outdoor pool in the middle of Coral Gables that, as the name clearly suggests, is inspired by Venetian style, complete with historic buildings and a San Marco bridge from which the lifeguard, under his umbrella, keeps an eye on the swimmers. There's even a beautiful, fine little white beach where you can lay out your towel and sunbathe, a little waterfall for a natural whirlpool, a small hidden grotto (complete with an almost ridiculous sign warning that the lifeguard inside can't see you and can't come save you! Americans...), a side path through the greenery leading to a pool, and more. All this in the middle of a metropolis, and all, obviously, artificial. From Las Vegas onward we've understood that Americans are masters of this kind of thing... the entrance to the Venetian Pool costs $9.50 each but it's absolutely worth it.

So much so that we stay there several hours straight in the most absolute fun and relaxation. And, just for a change, there's almost no one in this little paradise: we share the little beach with two other towels and the entire pool with a group of kids and a small family. After numerous swims, we have lunch at the inevitable refreshment stand, with chairs and little tables outside always in keeping with the theme, but with entirely American and not at all Italian food inside the building with Venetian walls and the typical fast food counter. So we get two enormous (and I must admit very good) fresh cheeseburgers made on the spot by the girl managing everything, who I sincerely believe defies the laws of physics by managing to stay comfortably standing with her 200 kilos of proud obesity. One like many others around here, but seen up close still quite shocking for our standards...

We leave the Venetian Pool and continue our drive around Coral Gables, seeing the magnificent Biltmore Hotel, and an entire block full of protesters who've come for the elections: will Bush or Kerry win? We finally leave Miami too at 15:00, continuing south on the 1 South. The landscape gradually changes, the houses start to thin out; we pass the interchange for the Everglades and arrive near the keys. We're curious to see what the famous islands connected by very long bridges, also often featured in many films, look like. In reality we arrive in Key Largo, the first in the sequence and also the largest, without realizing it. The landscape is very uniform and flat, strictly level with no relief that even appears barely hilly, and covered with sub-tropical vegetation. We start crossing some characteristic bridges to reach Islamorada and further on to Marathon.

The road, however, doesn't allow you to fully appreciate the panorama and obviously you can't stop while crossing the bridge. What instead stands out clearly and is singular are all the birds perched at sunset on the current netting poles planted in the sea, which line the road parallel: thousands, all in a row! In Marathon it's already dark and we look for a nice place to sleep. We know that in the keys finding a cheap motel isn't easy, and even more so today that it's Saturday it seems like an impossible task. So we resign ourselves to something more luxurious, finding the Rainbow Bend resort, with a bungalow at $99 a night. After a short tour, we realize it's so nice and in a strategic position (we're exactly halfway between Key Largo and Key West) that it's worth staying there directly tomorrow night too, keeping it as a base for the return.

Our room (it's called a bungalow but as usual the term apartment would be more fitting) is very spacious, divided into a living room with even a double TV and a kitchenette, a bedroom, a bathroom and even a little table outside in the garden in front of the entrance: stunning! We take a tour of the resort, very well cared for down to the smallest details, cross the lawn with the palms and reach the sea. There's a beach with nice sand (but it also smacks very much of being artificial!), with a few sun loungers and umbrellas (the resort doesn't have many rooms and is rather intimate and cozy), a singular wooden tower you can climb for wildlife spotting, strange free pedal boats for going around in the sea, and even a dock where little boats are moored that can be rented.

For dinner we skip the fancy restaurant, where I walk in a bit shocked in my swimsuit finding myself faced with elegant and refined waiters who look at me a bit askance to order a chocolate dessert (but wasn't the USA the land of casual?) and instead make use of our romantic outdoor garden in front of our room. Tonight we also have to set the clock back an hour, just like in Italy: on this trip we've beaten every record for time zone changes!

7 miles Bridge; Key West: Hemingway Home & Museum, Most Southern Point, sunset

We go up to the dining room for breakfast in beach attire, but we should have brought a sweater for the polar temperature at which the air conditioning was set. We take another short walk around the resort, which in daylight looks even nicer. One huge downside: the murky water of an ugly brown color that makes it impossible to think of taking a dip! We take the car and begin the descent toward Key West. We cross the long bridges connecting the different islands, including the renowned 7 Mile Bridge, which seems never to end! We arrive at our destination around 10:30, driving down a few side streets and parking at the Council Hall (obviously paid). With a short walk we reach Hemingway's house (now a museum), the famous writer who had a passion for cats and the peculiarity of having some with as many as six toes.

A quirk of nature that has been genetically prolonged over time, since now there are over 50 cats in the house and more than half of them have this peculiarity. And the difference is clearly visible to the naked eye! The entrance costs $10 each. We visit the interior of the house, really very beautiful, huge and on two floors, all in wood, where in every room a piece of the artist's life story shines through. We then continue into the magnificent garden of sub-tropical vegetation, where we play a bit with the cats and find nothing less than the special cemetery of their ancestors, the writer's study, and an empty pool. Before leaving the museum, there had to be a quick trip to the souvenir shop for a feline lover like Ste.

It's already well past lunchtime, so while we're walking we're drawn to the colorful Denny's, a fast food chain that's very present (at least here in Florida) that we haven't had a chance to try yet. Unlike the classic McDonald's, Burger King and various others, here there's a waitress who comes to serve you at the tables complete with a menu and, above all, the size of the hamburgers is not that of the competitors! Convinced I'd get the normal cheeseburger with the mini portion of fries, I order a double one and get a beast of epic proportions, as tall as the Coke glass and therefore impossible to put in your mouth without being dismembered, with half a kilo of fries as a side... this is a worthy American sandwich, dammit! Needless to say, it also costs as much as it weighs and certainly not the $1 of Burger King...

We continue our walk around Key West, cutting the island in two toward the South and admiring the spectacular little wooden houses, among the most characteristic seen so far in Florida. Everything is exactly identical to how you see it on screen, and I mean absolutely everything. It's pointless to even describe it, just take any film set in Florida between Miami and the keys (of which there are a myriad) and watch the American lifestyle, although obviously seeing it with your own eyes is much, much better! In a short while we reach the Southernmost Point of the entire USA: a kind of small column, where everyone takes the photo, which indicates just 90 miles of distance from Cuba compared to over 200 from Miami.

We head back, still on foot, to the center of Key West passing by the historic cemetery along the way (the one for humans, not the cats!) until we reach the old little harbor on the north of the island. We buy something at a characteristic market whose facade is painted like an aquarium, and walk through the characteristic little alleys and wooden piers where people begin to crowd and gather to watch the sunset. There are remarkably beautiful "little boats" moored, and enormous fish-shaped beasts under the water of the harbor! The beautiful little houses disappear, replaced by little restaurants, venues, resorts and little shops of every kind (especially clothing, at quite interesting prices). We secure a respectable spot for the sunset view and wait for this event which, just as they say, is a real event celebrated every day together with thousands of tourists.

Cameras galore for the sun setting over the ocean, although, since there are no clouds, the long-awaited event turns out a bit flat and honestly less beautiful than expected. I could never compare it to a sunset in Ao Nang in Thailand, just to give an example... the truly legendary and completely unexpected event is instead provided by the usual overexcited Americans. Shortly after sunset, a sailboat with at least twenty people on board slowly crosses the pier amid the shouts of the tourists.

From a distance it looks like a common group of friends waving in swimsuits, but as soon as they pass in front of us the mystery is revealed: they're nudists who've come to make fun of (literally!) the tourists, with nice full frontal "televisions" and endless laughter! Nothing terribly obscene actually, in fact quite hilarious and funny, including the shocking sight of the generous 200-kilo obese woman naked... well, now I can say I've truly seen everything in the States! We continue our walk on the crowded pier, with an incalculable number of people stopping to watch the most outlandish street artists, from the one who hangs himself tied up, to the one who does a bit of circus with cats, to the fire-eater dressed as a wrestler who seems to want to set everything on fire, and so on... We leave a magnificent cruise ship behind us now in the dark, and return to the car park.

On the way back to Marathon, we stop at a Publix (a chain of large supermarkets) to buy some tortellini to cook in our bungalow-apartment, along with some salad and fruit. We return to the resort at 21:00, have dinner and take another walk on the small dock.

U.S. 1 North; Everglades: Anhinga trail and Gumbo-Limbo trail

We spend the whole morning in the car driving up the 1 North toward Miami, until we reach the junction that leads west into the Everglades. We stop for lunch at a Burger King along the way (two cheeseburgers plus fries and Coke for $6.50), we even take a wrong road going past the intersection without seeing the sign (not at all obvious, considering it's such an important attraction!) and are forced to turn back. From the South side of U.S. 1 the sign is well marked and so, in the end, after a few long straight stretches amid endless flat fields, here we are at the entrance tollbooth where we pay the $10 per car ticket, valid for a whole week. A few miles further on and we're in front of the Visitor Center, and it's already past 15:00. We pick up some information brochures and continue along the only road (the 9336) that crosses this boundless, endless swamp.

It seems that 1/3 of Florida's surface is part of the Everglades: it's easy to imagine that we're talking about an area as vast as our entire Italian regions where there's absolutely no sign of human civilization, except for this road that partly crosses it from east to west, reaching as far as Flamingo. Further north there's another main artery, the 41, and some national parks like Big Cypress. One of the best ways to visit these lands is considered to be by canoe, with various marked routes, precisely because the enormous moving swamp consists for the most part of an immense marsh with a constant half-meter water level, even when you actually seem to see land, trees and vegetation.

You have to be careful where you put your feet because your sight deceives you! They also organize long excursions ranging from just one day to whole weeks that cross the Everglades on the coastal side from north to south, with camps at predetermined points. This place is a real gold mine for nature lovers since it's home to numerous interesting floral and faunal species, and especially for bird-watching during migration periods. Binoculars are a must. And it's also one of only two places in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist, which here you can encounter randomly anywhere in their natural habitat. After a few miles, given the time, we stop right away at the organized rest area from which the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails depart. These are two among many equipped trails with wooden walkways that allow you to pass over the swamp and dedicate yourself to observation.

There's absolute peace and tourists can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Some precious signs show and explain the species you can spot. The Anhinga trail takes its name precisely from the bird of the same name, of which we immediately see several specimens. We also admire up close a magnificent Blue Heron, which lives only in these parts, other commonly white herons, an alligator in the distance which is pointed out to us by two passing tourists, a sea turtle swimming calmly alongside the main path (I didn't think there were these too!), all immersed in the deep silence of nature in a stupendous habitat. The Anhinga's ring walkway trail is only 800 meters, but between one obligatory stop and another, it takes us a good three quarters of an hour to return to the starting point where, before it gets dark, we head into the Gumbo Limbo trail.

This too is 800 meters long, but unlike the first one which passes over the water of the moving "prairie," this one goes into the jungle with trees so intricate that not a sliver of light gets through. We don't enjoy it at all and cover half of it at a full run, since the insurmountable problem of mosquitoes presents itself. Never seen so many in any tropical country with an attached jungle where we've been! Despite our Autan, which they evidently eat for breakfast as an appetizer, the shrill high-pitched buzz of the hated creatures keeps ringing in your ear, the welts from bites increase more and more and my hand gets cramps from endlessly swatting them off poor Stefania's back, covered by dozens of these monsters at a time. The end of the trail appears like the classic light at the end of the endless dark corridor in horror movies.

Fortunately we reach it soon and run right into the car. Here, some gigantic black birds squawking insolently wait for some crumbs to eat, even climbing onto the car hood to our utter amazement! We can leave the Everglades for today. We return to the main road and try to continue a bit on the 9336 for a few miles, admiring the beautiful sunset in a wild and completely solitary landscape. The swamp extends 360° to the horizon, and it's rare to come across a car on this endless straight stretch: once again exactly as seen in the movies...

Once out of the tollbooth we return to the 1 and look for a nearby motel among those seen on the way there: the Travelodge is just perfect, with a room at $55 and a take-away Pizza Hut nearby, where Stefania has the nerve to win a plush toy on the first try playing just 50 cents at those machines with the little mobile "crane" to maneuver in the jumble of possible plush toys to grab.

Everglades trail: Pineland, Pahayokee Overlook, Mahogany Hammock; Flamingo; West Lake trail; Airboat

We return to the Everglades on the 9336, going beyond the stretch covered up to yesterday and spotting along the sides of the road the trails organized for canoes. We continue our exploration stopping at the next trails that can be visited on foot, starting with Pineland (characteristic for this type of tree), then Pahayokee Overlook (a terrace with a vast and excellent view of the swamp), and finally Mahogany Hammock. All of them deserve to be seen and have different characteristics. Besides the numerous sightings you have the chance to observe and understand (everything is always explained on the educational signs) the importance of algae and mangroves in the ecosystem, as well as of water itself in contrast with fire. We arrive at Flamingo and stop at the Visitor Center to gather some information and a map.

We're facing the ocean and from here you can do interesting things if you have a bit more time. After a short tour, we decide to head back but I take the wrong direction on one of the three parallel paved lanes a few meters apart on the grass from each other, completely deserted. After ten meters (counted), two police cars literally appear out of nowhere and stop me instantly. Thank goodness I was going at a walking pace and realized my mistake, which I could have immediately remedied by moving three meters over to the other paved lane in the right direction. The policeman gets out stiffly from his car, approaches with that American walk, and asks me, following a police movie step by step, for my license and documents through the window while I don't dare take my hands off the steering wheel as I'd read in the many tips.

Fifteen seconds after I rolled down the window and a black cloud of mosquitoes fills the car uproariously... they bite me everywhere, even on the lip and under the eye, enough to push me to make a joke not at all appreciated by the man of the law like: "There are a lot of mosquitoes around here, eh?" The policeman immediately understands we're tourists (obviously) and imagines the car is rented, also asking me for the company contract, which I can't find in the glove compartment: I left it in the suitcase! After wasting a bit of time, he politely asks me without batting an eyelid to get back in the car. No lecture and no fine, but he explains how to move over to the parallel lane and "politely" get out of his hair...

and he escorts us until we leave Flamingo behind! So American! Meanwhile, the car interior has become a hell packed with rabid mosquitoes and we're forced to stop at the first rest area to carry out a massacre. I really don't know how many dozens and dozens we killed in a few minutes: just let anyone dare to reopen the window! We expected something similar to Thailand and Sri Lanka, in full tropical climate, but this is another thing entirely, a real nightmare! We finish our visit to the Everglades with another trail on the way back: West Lake, which overlooks the lake of the same name where you can also go canoeing. It's a short stretch but extremely interesting, winding through the mangrove forest and emerging, again with a wooden walkway, onto the lake where you can spot, perched on a small sand island, thousands of birds crowded together.

Instead of returning to the 1, we take one of its parallels toward the north that on the

Naples: beach & Pier; Caribbean Gardens and zoo; Fort Myers

At 10:00 we park the car and walk along 5th avenue, the main street of the center of Naples, full of clothing stores of the big Italian and non-Italian brands, banks and people dressed classily (which for us would be normal, but here we're in America...). We stop at a Starbucks for breakfast (a nice cappuccino similar to the Italian one was just what we needed!) and continue our walk along the side streets too. We're in one of the richest little towns in Florida and it really shows! Apart from the usual stunning villas, surrounded by greenery and quiet, in front of a mega hotel we're left open-mouthed by the sight of a splendid little lake reflecting the sky (complete with little ducks) surrounded by dream solitary houses. We're talking about the classic lake house you see in the movies, here though we're right in the city... as if that weren't enough, two steps away

Sanibel Island; Captiva Island: beaches and dolphin boat tour

At 9:30 we're driving through the streets of Fort Myers. At first impression the center doesn't leave a good impression, with these big buildings and blocks that are a bit more "run-down" than average. Then, however, we drive through a nice residential neighborhood that turns out to be far more attractive (but not like the one we saw in Naples yesterday!). Further on we reach the bridge where you pay a toll of a whopping $6 that connects to Sanibel Island: it's double what Erika had told us, but it's probably due to the problems caused by the late-summer hurricanes. We stop at the visitor center to get the usual map and information, and we discover right away that the island is divided in two: the western part can be visited freely by tourists, the eastern part is a nature reserve and accessible with an additional entrance fee.

We take a drive along the only two roads that cross the island, and we're favorably impressed by the very fast reconstruction work on the damage caused by the hurricanes: the houses are intact and most of the vegetation appears untouched. Quite different, however, is the situation on Captiva Island, the next island over, also connected by a small bridge. Here the damage is clearly and unmistakably visible! Many of the palms are broken, many trees razed to the ground, and you frequently see those "clumps" of branches forming a single mass that we'd already seen on a trail in the Everglades. We're surprised by the houses, though, which show no serious damage except for a few with partially ruined roofs.

If a hurricane has the strength to uproot trees with their roots, why not houses, since they're all made of wood? Or maybe, since we're talking about rich people around here, they're all insured and each time they rebuild at record speed? It's a mystery we'll try to solve. Meanwhile, we're struck by the landscape of this nature "broken" by its own destructive force. Captiva Island is a bit wilder than Sanibel, and there's even just one narrow road running its entire length from south to north. At the northern tip of the island we stop at a paid parking lot to see the beach. The ticket machine that takes the money, however, doesn't work: the hurricane must have damaged this too! There isn't even an attendant, so after watching other tourists try and try again like us, in vain, to insert bills, we resign ourselves "very regretfully" to enjoying some free relaxation (for once!).

Actually, we're a bit disappointed because we were expecting seashells and a more beautiful sea, which instead looks murky and very rough. Erika described it as a paradise, but it was much nicer in Naples! It's hard to judge at this moment anyway, since in all likelihood the ecosystem of both islands has taken a heavy blow from the devastation of the hurricanes. Just look in front of us at the bulldozers working on the resort's garden, the tall, scraggly palms like the branches of dead trees, and the new short ones just planted to replace the uprooted ones... probably the seashells have been swept away too, leaving only a few remnants in small strips of sand... luckily seagulls and pelicans never fail to liven up the ocean, and not far off we can even see several dolphins swimming in pairs.

We have lunch with a few sandwiches bought at the market at the island entrance, and head to the center where, in a square, an agency we saw in the visitor center brochures runs boat tours for dolphin spotting. We ask for information and book the 3:30 pm one for $20 per person. As we board the boat from the dock, we notice that here too the sea is nothing short of terrible: very murky, dark and full of leaves, branches and mud. The boat trip turns out to be very relaxing in the first stretch, where we cruise inside the gulf, and exciting in the second, where the encounters with the sweet, intelligent mammals begin.

The captain explains how they love the noise of the engine (that's why you always see them following boats in the wake of churning foam) and the cries of children: a lovely experience! At the end of the trip at 5:00 pm, we return to Sanibel just in time for sunset on the beach, trodden by thousands of birds of every type, shape and size, which give it great charm. We resume our car journey along Highway 41 north to Sarasota, where we stay at the Allamanda motel, rather spartan but with a really nice and helpful Polish lady who runs it. The room costs $57 and, although a bit dated, is still clean and comfortable. Car parking, as in the vast majority of motels, is right in front of the room. For dinner we improvise our first "drive-thru" at Burger King, that is, ordering and picking up the food without getting out of the car.

Just like you see in the movies: you follow the lane in line, you reach a kind of speaker that takes your order (there's the menu board hanging behind it!), you wait a few minutes at most, and a few yards further on a kid arrives to deliver dinner and take payment. Functional, essential, efficient, fast and... monstrous... American laziness has no equal in the world! Of course, as a first experience, it's a bit traumatic for those like us who aren't used to these systems: precisely because the service is based on tight timing, it's not easy to decide on the fly what to order from the window, explain it in a hurry to the microphone with the speaker pressing for your order and the small monitor where what you've just decided appears in real time... one thing is beyond doubt, though: laughs are guaranteed!!!

Sarasota; Ringling Museum, Cà D'Zan Mansion, Circus Museum, Museum of Art

A brief stop at Walgreens (a market chain) for basic groceries, and here we are on the streets of Sarasota, another lovely town in Florida. Today we try to devote our attention to a bit of culture and history by visiting the Ringling Museum of Art, which corresponds to the legacy of John Ringling (1866-1936) and his wife. John Ringling bequeathed this museum, his collection and the 66 acres of land and gardens overlooking Sarasota Bay to the people of Florida. The State took possession of the property and transferred its administration to Florida State University, thus founding one of the largest and most unique university cultural centers in America. The entrance is on U.S. Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail), where we park the car and pay the ticket of $15 each, which includes no fewer than three different museums within a single park.

We start with the Ca' D'Zan Mansion (which in Venetian dialect means "House of John"), the Ringlings' winter residence, where we're taken by a funny little electric cart that provides the shuttle service. Actually, the distance is easily walkable... We join one of the guided tours that depart frequently to visit the interior of the villa, designed by a New York architect and built between 1924 and 1926. Ca' D'Zan evokes the Venetian-Gothic style of the palazzos the Ringlings admired on their travels, and today it is completely restored to its magnificence. Not comparable to Venetian masterpieces in my opinion, but certainly very beautiful and refined in its details. Then again, you have to keep in mind that we're in America and not Europe, so this is an extremely important piece of history and art.

After visiting the mansion we stroll through the park and the Rose Garden, both deliberately embellished by the owners who, not content with the local plants such as palms, oaks and pines, added a collection of exotic plants including the sausage tree, breadfruit trees and araucarias. We reach the Circus Museum, a curious and original museum dedicated to the circus and its performers (John had one in Sarasota with which he made his fortune along with his brothers).

It's little more than a warehouse where objects documenting the history of the American circus have been gathered, displaying flyers, posters, photographs, costumes, performance equipment, meticulously detailed circus wagons, as well as (in my opinion, the nicest thing to see) a miniature circus reconstruction! Last we visit the Museum of Art, where the Ringlings amassed a collection of over 600 paintings in various halls, several sculptures and decorative objects. Here you find works by Rubens, Poussin, Hals, Velázquez, De Heem, Cranach, Pietro da Cortona, Guercino and other great artists of the Renaissance and Baroque. Around 3:00 pm we move on for lunch to an Italian buffet we found in the numerous brochures, where for $11 each we drink and eat to our heart's content something resembling our most succulent specialties (we're starting to get tired of fast food after two weeks!).

We then take Interstate 75 north to St. Petersburg, crossing near the bay a colossal bridge no less than 11 miles long! It's too late to stop and see the city, so we keep going straight on Highway 19 north, covering a long stretch until we reach Crystal River, where we arrive a little after 8:00 pm. It's a mandatory stop since tomorrow we have the manatee tour booked for early morning. While looking for lodging we realize that this small American town is divided in two and is rather quiet and at times dark. At moments, these houses isolated in the woods give me a vibe similar to Stephen King's Maine and a sense of almost unsettling loneliness... We find a spartan motel with a slightly wacky but very friendly lady who offers us a room for $55 all in, very close to the Days Inn (which costs quite a bit more), which is the meeting point for the tour.

Having eaten well at lunch, for dinner we settle for the usual small shopping trip to Walgreens, always present in any inhabited town in Florida.

Crystal River: snorkelling tour with manatees; Treasure Island: beach

At 7:45 sharp we are in front of the Crystal River Watersport, right behind the Days Inn motel. We enter the wooden building set in the green garden with the river behind it. A lady pulls up our reservation and shows us the equipment for the manatee tour, which consists of snorkelling in the river where these animals live freely. We take masks and fins, put on our wetsuits along with our companions (there are 6 of us for snorkelling and 2 for a diving dive), and wait a few minutes, shivering (it seems unbelievable but since last night a freezing air has arrived!). A gentleman has us sit back inside to watch a short documentary on the life of manatees, and on the precautions to take to cause as little disturbance as possible to this endangered species that lives practically only in Florida in a few regions.

The Crystal River is one of these, and it seems it becomes their habitat during the cold season, when manatees leave the ocean and take refuge in these milder-temperature waters. The documentary instils an incredible tenderness. These animals are completely gentle and docile, of a perfect innocence, with a head roughly the size of a man's, small eyes and a big snout, an enormous body that looks like an overinflated blimp about to burst that can reach several metres in length, and a single rear flipper.

In fact they look like walruses but they don't have teeth, and to eat the algae on the bottom they bring it to their mouths with their two upper flippers (just like we humans do with food using our hands) and chew it ruminating clumsily! They belong to the sirenian family and there's a legend that Christopher Columbus, arriving in the Americas, mistook some of them for a human being, creating the myth of the "mermaid"). They are as big and bulky as they are good-natured. Their problem is precisely this, along with the fact that they are slow and cannot do any harm. Their curiosity often drives them towards boats, causing serious injuries to their bodies from propeller blades. Today, fortunately, thanks to an awareness campaign, also due to these tourist initiatives, the Crystal River is closed to motorboats and to navigate you have to request permits.

They advise not to disturb the animal in any way, not to make sudden movements in the water and to swim slowly, not to shout and to speak softly, never to take any initiative towards them. It must be them who approach and establish contact, which generally happens precisely because of their curiosity. At the end of the documentary, the obligatory American theatrics cannot be missing, showing acts of heroism in the rescue operations of injured manatees, which are picked up, taken by helicopter in special containers for treatment and rehabilitated. In this case they are for a good cause, so I fully vote for the American theatrics... It's time to move! The boat is prepared but, to our great surprise, we don't set off from the river in front of us.

We are told to follow our guide by car who will lead the group a little further on to the dock at the port: no problem, except for the fact that we are "comfortably" dressed in our giant wetsuits, barefoot, and driving is really funny! If the police stop us now, they'll have a good laugh, eh!? Once we arrive at the small harbour, our boat is launched and the captain arrives, a gentleman in his sixties, a real American navy man. And this is another surprise: will he save us if someone feels unwell? So we sail through the placid waters of the Crystal River, admiring the splendid landscape around us and American small-town life.

Everything is of an unbelievable calm, and what a marvel those little houses on the lake with a private dock and the little wooden boat on the river! A deep sense of envy gnaws at me because here we're not talking about the rich of Naples, this is an ordinary small town in inland Florida and moreover far from mass tourism... After just a quarter of an hour of calm, we turn into a bend and spot two boats and two guys snorkelling dealing with the manatees. "We've arrived!" says the captain. As soon as we stop, the curious animals begin to approach and grow more and more numerous before our astonished eyes: they really are big! We put on masks and fins, and dive in slowly so as not to frighten them.

Which turns out to be much harder than expected, first because the water is, to say the least, freezing (another unexpected surprise for me, but don't they take refuge here for the mild temperature!?), second because you can't see the bottom or even a few metres away given the murky colour of the river, and third because they initially scare us a bit. Once underwater, in fact, we are literally surrounded by these big brutes! I find myself with three of them all together, two at my sides and one below, so close as to almost crush me. But despite their intimidating bulk, we soon realise that they move so slowly and with such elegance that they cannot do any unintentional harm. We begin to stroke them on their thick skin similar to that of elephants (they really like being "scratched" on the back), and some even on the head.

They pass everywhere near the boat and are of a tenderness that is, to say the least, moving. They even rub against each other to get cuddles, just like cats do, resting one's head on the other's body, they swim belly-up, squint those innocent little eyes and almost always swim together. They are beautiful, astonishing! The guide had told us they were animals with a gentle soul, with peace in their hearts, and that is absolutely so. They are simply good-natured, big softies with a constant desire to play and to be loved. They seem like pure angels come down to earth, it's crazy that such fascinating animals are at risk of extinction. I stay in the water for three quarters of an hour admiring this spectacle and then I'm forced to give up because of the cold.

I've never been cold with a wetsuit on but here the water is really freezing! The others in the group have almost all come back, only Ste and another girl remain with the manatees. The spectacle continues anyway even from above the boat, since the manatees keep passing by and someone manages to stroke their snouts at the surface! I try to take a few decent photos at least from here with my nice Canon EOS 300D, since with the underwater camera they must have come out terrible with the murk and the muddy silt of the river. Once the whole snorkelling group is back, in a state of hypothermia, it's time for the two diving guys who, accompanied by the captain, go to visit an underground cave nearby. While we wait for them we take off our wetsuits and try to warm up on this cool morning. The manatees thin out and another group arrives to visit them.

It seems they aren't as lucky as us, because they come all the way to our boat to see them. It must be said that they also make a lot of noise, whereas we respected to perfection the rules of peace and silence given to us in the documentary. Even if we hadn't watched it, in any case, certain things are a given: you just need to have a bit of respect when you are in "someone else's home", as the saying goes... Once the divers are back, we return to the dock where we can finally get dressed and stay a bit in the warmth of our car. One of the reasons we came to Florida was precisely to admire these animals, despite it being one of the least publicised and least touristy things compared to the big attractions of the amusement parks of Orlando and surroundings, of cities like Miami, the Keys, etc. etc.

And, without a shadow of a doubt, it was in fact also the most touching and exciting thing we did in the USA!

Treasure Island beach; St Petesburg: Dalì museum, Pier

Today's purpose is total relaxation. We've been running from one place to another for two weeks and given the beautiful place we've ended up in, we decide to give up the Universal Studios in Orlando and stay here one more night. Tomorrow, with only a day left before departure, we'll give preference to the Sea World park. We stay at the beach for several hours sunbathing and strolling. Here too, as I've often noticed elsewhere, to get to the beach from the paved road you pass through wooden walkways. On each of them there's a nice sign indicating what you can and cannot do. In particular I'm struck by the fact that it's forbidden to walk on the scrubland, let's call it that, that is, in those ten, twenty metres, sometimes more, of completely uncultivated grass that lies between the resorts or houses on the road and the beach itself.

In fact, I was wondering why the hotels don't take care of the "sea side", as they do back home, turning it into a garden, lawn with sun loungers and umbrellas, etc. etc. Here you can't. Among other things, this stretch left uncultivated is remarkably less beautiful to look at. The explanation is that Americans consider it "sacred" ground to leave the right space and balance to flora and fauna, and probably to preserve the sand itself which is held back by the bushes during the windiest days or storms. So this is also what the wooden walkways are for, as well as a service for the disabled! And at this point I can only bow before American wisdom, because apparently we in Sardinia have made so many blunders overlooking these trivial little rules, starting with our dear and beloved coastline of Cagliari which is disappearing...

who cares about seeing an English lawn and flowering gardens as if it were always spring, better to preserve the uncontaminated place which moreover takes on a wilder and more natural appearance. It may seem contradictory to speak of an uncontaminated beach in the civilisation of America, but those big buildings in the background never reach the sea and don't disturb at all, they merely create a bizarre contrast, and there are no beach clubs with sun loungers and umbrellas, or simple refreshment kiosks... but is that possible? This is the reality of what I saw in Florida on this trip, probably I was lucky, probably it's because we're in low season (but why, when at the sea it's wonderful?), probably I don't know but I'm convinced that at the thought of a suffocating beach scene like that of Rimini these Americans would really get goosebumps (rightly so!).

For lunch we buy hot dogs and an energy milk shake at a small kiosk behind the beach (found by chance, because you can't even see it, it's so far away...). We stay in the sun a bit longer and then at 14:30 we get in the car to reach the centre of St. Petesburg, where with the help of the map we head towards the port and more precisely to the museum dedicated to Salvador Dalì. The entrance costs a good $14 but it's a must-see stop for art lovers. The rooms aren't very many and can be easily toured in a couple of hours. On display are the author's main works together with his entire biography and artistic growth, alongside his collaborations in the world of cinema. One of these was with Disney, which remained only at the project stage without ever being completed. In recent years his work has been reconsidered and today this project has been completed following Dalì's original work.

We see it realised in a short cartoon film in a special room, truly abstract and singular! Once the visit is over, we move aimlessly towards the coastline and are drawn to the Pier. Unlike the other simple wooden docks, here we're talking civilisation and technology. A two-lane paved road goes out into the ocean and ends in a panoramic "tower" which is a mini three-storey shopping centre, with clothing shops, souvenirs, restaurants and bars, an aquarium and a belvedere, from which you enjoy a splendid view of the city's skyline and its skyscrapers, especially at sunset. We take the opportunity to taste some sweets and buy the last gifts to bring home. We return after 19:00 to our "cabin" and have dinner with another pizza delivery. We start packing our suitcases and go to bed early: tomorrow a long day awaits us!

275 East and 4 North to Orlando; Sea World theme park

At 7:30 we're already in the car on the 275 north which from St. Petesburg heads towards Tampa. Here we find some traffic and take the Interstate 4 east towards Orlando. We stop for petrol and breakfast and at 10:00 here we are at the gates of the renowned Florida city made so famous by its amusement parks. We follow the signs for Sea World which lead us straight to the endless car parks with no possibility of error. Never seen such big ones: entire football fields that seem never to end! We read the sign with the row number carefully so we have some hope of finding the car on our return without wandering around looking for a needle in a haystack... At the entrance there isn't much of a queue. The ticket valid for the whole day costs $57 per person. As usual, paradoxically, the annual pass costs only a few dollars more! We get the map and begin our visit of this Orlando theme park.

The first few metres already say it all: the atmosphere is serene, there's a relaxing background and not at all frenetic like at the Disney parks. The attractions are of various kinds and basically divide into those that can be visited at any time inside pavilions and those of the shows, which have fixed times. We choose to see the one with the killer whales right away (The Shamu Adventure). We cross half the park to get there, skirting the central lake (a feature of all theme parks). A huge open-air half-moon arena hosts the tourists in front of the immense pool with the killer whales. It's already almost full and we quickly look for two seats with a decent view.

However, we are within the first 14 rows, that is, the so-called soak zone which, during the show, is considered a high-risk area for getting wet! While we wait, a fun quiz game is conducted, where the protagonists are us in the audience! A question is asked on the big screen in the centre of the pool and the camera unexpectedly frames one of the spectators. Some don't even notice they're being filmed... Meanwhile the killer whales swim calmly around the pool: they are enormous and incredibly fascinating. The show begins: it's hosted by a group of guys in wetsuits, who explain over the microphone what is about to happen. Every show has the purpose, besides entertaining, of highlighting what the true potential of these animals is.

In a word: monstrous! An astonishing intelligence and interactivity, perfect control of the body, of movement, of balance: power in its pure state! The symbiosis between the trainers and the mammals is impressive, they are part of one another. Together they are able to swim above and deep below the water, be carried on their snouts, belly-up, be launched vertically with an unbelievable thrust in which the killer whale comes entirely out of the water, and so on. The latter even receives applause on its "pedestal" out of the water, from which it is able to go back by the mere shifting of weight moving its fin. The reward is obviously food, of which they gorge themselves. And to conclude, the soaking also arrives.

Fortunately the guy warns those in the soak zone who have expensive cameras, suggesting to move beyond the 14th row: I don't need telling twice, while Stefania stays fearless in her spot. With a few well-aimed tail slaps, the killer whale is able to move a volume of water that is unbelievable! And it's not at all random, it knows perfectly well where it's aiming... Amid screams and people soaked to the bone, the show ends thus in a general euphoria: truly very, very beautiful. It's worth coming to Sea World just to see this! We move to the Pacific Point Preserve area, where the sea lions shout their heads off to force tourists, like us, to buy them food. They're very clever, there's no denying it...

A little further on another show is held, Pirate & Lion, where this time the protagonists are the sea lions themselves together with some nice actor guys who stage, against the backdrop of a suggestive set complete with a sailing ship, an hilarious comedy that's really enjoyable. Once again I'm enormously surprised by the intelligence of these animals which perform the most extravagant actions and acrobatics with an embarrassing ease... On the way out we continue our visit, ending up at one of the most fun and popular attractions of Sea World: Journey to Atlantis, that is, a little journey towards the legendary Atlantis by means of the classic car that follows its forced path floating on the water. They have us store our backpacks in special lockers, including cameras, and while queuing we notice everyone in light clothing ready for the final splash that can be seen from the entrance.

We think it's like the one at Disney (Splash Mountain), where we came out unharmed, but here it's quite different. The route is calm until that gigantic leap into the void amid screams and stomach convulsions arrives, which ends mercilessly with a total soaking at the bottom: and when I say total, I mean clothes completely soaked including underwear, socks and shoes. Now I'm walking around in my nice closed tennis shoes! Stefania is no better off, who is saved by her flip-flops but rightly complains about her jeans: they'll never dry! To remedy this we immediately enter some souvenir and clothing shops looking for something dry to wear, but we find nothing nice. There's nothing left but to have lunch with a nice hot dog and fries on a bench in the sun which, fortunately, is warming up quite nicely today... We continue, passing by the Stingray pool and arriving at the dolphin one.

A trainer explains a few notions, while the tourists queue and crowd together to feed the splendid mammals and be able to stroke them. What a gaze dolphins have, so sweet and intelligent. And touching them is really strange, they seem made of rubber! We go down to the lower part where you can admire them swimming underwater, then we move to the manatee area, which appear to our eyes exaggeratedly bloated, unrecognisable. They don't even seem like the same animals we saw at Crystal River the day before yesterday. Here you begin to glimpse the limits of a park like Sea World. Further on we still see the penguins, and then we enter the Shark Encounter, where in a huge aquarium complete with a walkable glass tunnel you can admire sharks and many other species of fish. To finish we visit Wild Arctic, shortly before closing.

In this pavilion the Arctic environment is recreated, complete with white polar bear, gigantic walrus, and so on. Frankly the most questionable part of all Sea World: the spaces are too small for animals of this bulk, the place and the polar climate in the middle of Florida are too artificial. I fully agree with our National Geographic guide who states the same thing. On the way out we emerge in front of the Shamu arena, where we are just in time to attend Sea World's closing show with the killer whales rocking out to the music. Not for nothing is the show titled: Shamu Rocks America! Truly thrilling, similar anyway to this morning's one although at a more unrestrained pace. Before definitively leaving the park at 18:00 the stop to buy souvenirs to bring home cannot be missing.

Once at the car park, we discover our fear of not finding the car was unfounded, since we are practically the last ones left to leave Sea World... A short tour around allows us to immediately find accommodation at a good price, taking advantage of the coupons, at the Days Inn on International Drive for $45: a real stroke of luck!

Flight Orlando - Newark (New York) - Rome

As with all trips this is the saddest part to tell: the return home. At 9:30 we return our Chevrolet Cavalier to the Alamo car park at the airport, after following the numerous signs and junctions of the American asphalt jungle. We drove something like 1,990 miles to do the loop around Florida in these last two weeks. At 12:20 the Continental 1493 flight departs on a Boeing 757 which takes us from Orlando straight to Newark (1510 Km of flight) where we land at 15:00. From here, since it's still daytime, I finally have the chance to admire the spectacle of the skyline so famous and well known of New York. There they are, the skyscrapers of Manhattan, you can see them very well from the airport windows and it feels like you know them all, having seen them so much in an incalculable number of Hollywood films. A few obligatory photos and videos can't be missing...

At 17:35 we definitively leave the U.S.A. with the Continental 40 flight on a Boeing 767-200 and with 6888 Km to cover to reach Rome...

Flight Rome - Ca - return

We land at Rome Fiumicino at 7:50 in the morning, rather dazed by the time difference and the night on the plane. A nice truly Italian breakfast, after 3 weeks, enlivens our wait until 11:45. Our flight to Cagliari takes off on time and after a little more than an hour we are home. Too bad though, I was starting to get used to the American way of life!