Saturday at the Curtis Hixon Park

Every time that someone from out of town is visiting, I take them to Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa. This is one of the newest places in Tampa and one of my favorite parks in the City. It's modern and beautiful. University of Tampa, a must see in Tampa, can be seeing on the other side of the river. My dear friend Ana was in town visiting me and Emma for a weekend in February. We had plans to go to the beach but the forecast said it was raining and it was indeed raining in the morning. We moved our beach day for Sunday and spent Saturday in Tampa. Emma loves nature so this was the perfect opportunity to do something fun for her and at the same time show my friend around. The forecast was wrong and we had a sunny and warm afternoon. We miss you Ana. Thank you for the pictures of me and Emma. I LOVE them! Come back soon!

UT in the background

Mom, no more pictures please! 

Date at L'Eden

Last Saturday Andre and I had our first date after our baby was born. We picked one of our favorite restaurants in Tampa. L'Eden is a small French restaurant in Downtown Tampa.

I had a quiche Lorraine and Andre had the pecan chicken. I forgot to take a picture before I started to eat. We saved room for dessert, a crepe of course. This time I did take a picture before we ate it. The chocolate crepe was the best part of our meal. They added bananas because we requested it. This crepe reminded us of our trip to Paris 3 years ago. We started dreaming about planning a trip to Europe next year. We were only dreaming since our first trip will most likely be to Ecuador to introduce Emma to her father's family.

The chef/owner was cleaning tables and making coffee. You can see that he really loves this place and it shows with everything that they serve. He makes his own pastries. Sadly I never make it in the morning to try one of the freshly baked chocolate croissants. I'm jealous of those that work in downtown and can grab one every morning.

We don't come here often and we love it. After our delicious dinner we decided that we will come to this place as a ritual on Saturdays for lunch with Emma and then walk to the Curtis Hixon Park for a nice afternoon walk (before it gets too hot). There is a new downtown location of L'Eden and we will check it out next time.

Best Brunch in Tampa

The best Sunday brunch in Tampa is at Jackson's. I'm not into photographing food, so please trust me when I tell you this. Jackson's is located in Harbor Island, just across from downtown Tampa.

I don't go as often as I would like probably because it's a buffet and the mind set is that you "have" to be really hungry to go. Today, I finally convinced my sister, my brother in law, and my nephew to join me.  It was their first time there and they loved it. I'm sure that I will go more often now. 

Chocolate covered strawberries and bananas

There is something for everyone: omelet station, pasta station, sushi and fish, breakfast items, salads, entrees, fruit, and the dessert station with a chocolate fountain included. Also, the view of downtown is one of the best things about this place. All of this for just $20.95

Love the winter in Florida, 78 F in a January day!

Downtown Tampa from Jackson's

When I travel, I'm always looking for a nice place to eat late breakfast/brunch. I've never been to a brunch buffet as good as this one. If you go with a large group I recommend making reservations. There is usually a short wait for a table. 

Doggy Love

Sophie is my sister's golden retriever and my adoptive daughter. They live in California and come to Tampa several times a year. I used to take care of Sophie in between my sister's trips to California. My sister and her family are planning to live in Tampa permanently. They are spending more time in Florida and I don't have to dog sit as much as before. Besides we already live with a dog in a small apartment, my husband's crazy dog, which would probably deserve a post of its own. 

For the past few weeks I've been working a lot of hours. Even on the weekends. Besides work and boring home stuff I haven't been doing much. I was dog sitting Sophie last weekend. I took a few pictures of her when we went to a dog park in Davis Island. Davis Island is probably my favorite place to watch the sunset in town. I posted some pictures a few months ago here. 

Dog Park, Davis Island

Carnival Cruise leaving Tampa

Davis Island Yatch Club

Dog Beach, Davis Island

Gasparrilla Art Fest

This year was the first year that I went to the Gasparrilla Festival of the Arts in the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. I went with my parents, one of my sisters, and my husband. The only thing that they have in common with the Gasparilla parade is the name and that they are scheduled around the same time of the year. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Gasparrilla Parade if you want to know more about it. It was a perfect sunny day to be out. We only stayed for about 2 hours and walked around all of the booths. Some of them were great, some other not so great. I wanted to take more pictures of my favorite paintings, but artists are very reserved with pictures. I understand why and I didn't do it unless it was something out of the ordinary like the airplanes made of soda cans. Maybe my mom will have a booth next year. She is a great painter and it would be nice for her to show her work. We are trying to encourage her to do it. 

We enjoyed to be out doing something different in one of my favorite places in Tampa. Seeing so many creative artists makes me want to do something again. I used to draw a lot, but since I don't practice everything I do looks terrible. I still appreciate other people's good work. I was also excited when one of the food vendors was an arepa stand. Arepas are typical Colombian food that we normally eat for breakfast. It is something like a corn bread and you can eat it with cheese or meat on top. I like it with just cheese and butter. I can buy arepas at the latin markets, but I was happy to have more options besides hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Gasparrilla Art Fest 2012

University of Tampa in the background

Tampa Museum of Art

My favorite were these airplanes made of soda cans

If you want to see more pictures of Downtown Tampa see them here. 

Downtown Tampa

For Christmas, I got my first SLR camera. I usually buy clothes and shoes or more clothes. I'm not happy with my size these days, so it was time to get a decent camera. For the past month I have been using it with auto mode. I decided it was time to learn how to use it. I've always had a good eye, but I don't know anything about photography. I know some things about colors, composition, proportions... not enough. My mother is a painter and I used to draw. This is like learning a (fun) new language. I was lucky to see Kyle, an amazing photographer and friend, during Christmas. She gave me a lesson on aperture and camera settings. Also, my brother in law gave a photography basics book for Christmas that I've been reading. 

I worked half day last Friday and headed to Downtown to play with the camera. My favorite part of downtown is the new Waterfront Park and the Tampa Museum of Art overlooking the Hillsborough river and the University of Tampa (UT). The Museum and the park were renovated in 2010. I haven't been inside yet. I tried going on Friday, but it was closed due to the "Art after dark" event. Later I learned that it is free admission after 6:00 PM on the "Art after dark" days. I need to find out more about this. UT has always been one of my favorite sites in Tampa. I always take out of town visitors to see it. This was a beautiful warm winter day (around 25 C/80 F). I could see the UT students across the river laying in their bathing suits. It was the perfect day for that. 

University of Tampa in the background

Tampa Museum of Art

Tampa Museum of Art

Downtown Tampa

University of Tampa

Hillborough River and University of Tampa

One legged bird

University of Tampa

Skypoint and Element, the 2 high rise residential buildings in Downtown

Children's Mist Fountain

The birds like the view too

The Glazier Children's Museum is also located in this area. I love the mosaic that they have on the walls.

Someone taking a nap

After taking too many pictures in the park, I drove towards my favorite City mural. This is a few blocks away and I don't know how long it has been there. I saw it years ago because Fly Bar is next to it.

Later, I decided to drive around where we live now. We moved to our new place in September and there are several hotels around. This was the view from one of them. I drove to our apartment complex and headed towards the trail to watch the sunset while I read. I was supposed to go to spinning at 5:30 PM, but I was enjoying a slow Friday afternoon. 

My favorite reading spot

Sunset over Tampa Bay

If you want to see some pictures taken by a real photographer in downtown and UT you have to see this and this sessions from the talented Kyle Hepp.