Winter Park

Bermuda’s winter is finally looking like it’s arrived. Rain is lashing sideways at the kitchen window as I look outside and the ocean is full of large frothy white capped waves like a sea of cups of cappuccino.

A Bermuda winter normally consists of a lot of driving rain, with intermittent drizzle and dampness accompanied by strong winds during the months of January and February, with March changeable. I can see a number of your hearts bleeding, so I will tell you that despite the rain today the temperature is still to 66°F!

Last week’s work event in Miami Beach – it rained every day like it always does when we are there – was bloody exhausting. Early starts, long days, late nights. I actually love it but I was glad to get home.

I was in Orlando the weekend before with some mates at the annual Superbowl weekend get-together, which was a ton of fun. I’ve written about Orlando before but for this visit we were based downtown which was surprisingly lively and we found this superb restaurant to rest our aging limbs (all night drinking wasn’t what it used to be!) on the Saturday.

We all agreed the food in the Kres Chop House was mouthwatering and we were given VIP service by Rob the manager and his selection of a Californian Cabernet danced on the tongue. We did our fair share of bar-hopping, especially on Friday, but queues of very young people stood outside almost every door was our signal to head to bed for some aspirin and beauty sleep.

The place that I will remember and will certainly return to was Winter Park an affluent (I checked out the house prices) town 15 minutes or so north-east of Orlando bursting with dinky little shops and cafes, all nestled alongside a chain of lakes. There are numerous galleries and museums including the Morse with it’s vast Tiffany collection.

There was a Saturday Farmer’s Market just a few blocks from the town’s centerpiece Park Avenue, which reminded me a lot of New York’s The Hamptons, many thousands of miles up the eastern seaboard.

If you are ever in Mickey Mouse land, I would encourage you to seek a little bit of calm and sophistication and head to Winter Park.