St. Petersberg, Florida, United States

I love to travel! Recently I spent a week in Florida. I was mainly in Safety Harbor but I thanks to two friends who drove me there I could visit St. Petersberg for an afternoon.

St. Petersberg is one of the largest cities in Florida, Uniated States. It is a popular touristic destination, both for Americans and international tourists.  St. Pete, as people often call it, has a lot to offer, especially if you are there for a couple of days. I had only an afternoon to visit it but I loved it!

Things to do:

• Visit one of its several high class museums:
• The Dali’s museum (http://thedali.org/)
• Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.fine-arts.org/)
• Museum of History (http://spmoh.com/)
• Chihuli Collection (http://www.moreanartscenter.org/content.php?id=90)
• Museum of Holocaust (http://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/) and many others.

• Spend some leisure time in the green parks near the water downtown

• Walk in the downtown area and enjoy the city’s atmosphere at your own pace. There are a lot of smaller and bigger galleries and craft shops. My favourite one was the Red Cloud Indian arts gallery right at 1^st Av and 1^st St (http://www.redcloudindianarts.com/). Did you know that the Rock Cafe chain was entirely bought (except the Las Vegas cafe) by the Red Cloud Indians? I fell in love with the paintings in the gallery. I wish I could have bought one or two to take home with me. Also, there were some remarkable quilted pieces to wear.

• Have some lunch, coffee, or chocolate in on one of the many restaurants, bars, coffee, and pastry shops in the downtown.

• Combine all of the above.

What I did? I had just a few hours to visit the place so I had to choose carefully what to do. I don't know about you but I hate sightseeing hungry. Thus the tour started with a pizza, some salad and a coffee in one of the most popular places downtown, just across the Museum of fine arts. I wouldn't have enough time to visit the museums, nor that I am such a museum person anyway, thus I entirely omitted them and focus on the street atmosphere. When I go to a new place I love to stroll along the streets, dive into the atmosphere, try the food, speak with the people and take lots of pictures. That is exactly how my afternoon passed. I entered in each and every art gallery and craft shop I saw. Among the other stuff, I found a few astonishing quilts as well.

Incidentally, I bumped into a small yarn shop and could not resist but entered. We had a nice talk with the shop owner, only knitters will understand the urgent need to talk with the owner in such case, and I bought a few things. That was actually two sets of bamboo cable needles (we don't have them in Bulgaria at all) and a skein of recycled cotton yarn in teal. I am all about teal this summer! The needles were Japanese, the yarn was Dutch. I had to go all the way to Florida to get them. I’ve been searching for bamboo needles for some time now and I am so happy I found them. Later the yarn turned into a beautiful pillow. If you are in St. Pete or plan to visit, you can find the shop here: http://stashstpete.com.

My next stop was a wonderful thrift gallery. Later, I understood it was a very popular place in St. Pete. I spent quite some time in the gallery and took zillions of pictures! I loved all I saw, too bad I could not fit anything in my suitcase to bring home. However, I could not pass the magnets and got a few wooden ones. This shop alone made my day! You can find more about it here http://www.zazood.com/about-zazoo-d.html. 

It was almost time to go back to my hotel. My friend was picking me in front of the Dali’s museum so I could see its amazing building and some of his art in the lobby. I guess this qualifies as a museum visit, isn't it?

The aftermath, I felt so happy that I could spend the whole afternoon strolling around the streets. It was hot and humid, I even burnt a bit, but I went back with a smile on my face. This was the perfect ending of my perfect trip to Florida!

Thank you Jen and Marscha for making this possible! 

If you'd like to see more pictures, please visit me at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534694636630178.1073741858.150714015028244&type=3).