Looking round Orlando.

Florida.  It seems like a year ago we were there but actually it was about six weeks.  You might enjoy this Floridian scene below ....

....well, once you realise where it is supposed to be.  If you have watched the Harry Potter films you might recognise Grimmauld Place, N.1, the ancestral home of Sirius Black and family. And you know what, forget about Florida, it really could be London. There are hundreds if not thousands of houses that look just like this in London. 

Grimmauld Place is part of the Harry Potter area at Universal Studios, Orlando, which I visited for the first time in many years.   

In the years I've been away, Universal has improved so much. Like in that old Avis car ad, you get the feeling they are trying harder simply because they don't want Disney to call all the shots.  There's such care and detail in the landscaping and buildings.  The rides are excellent, and merchandise and decor of the shops (specially in the large Harry Potter area) are such fun. I liked this collection of wizardy writing instruments snapped through a window in Diagon Alley. 

There are two parks at Universal, linked by a Hogwarts Express ride.    The  elaborate"Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" ride takes place in a towering Hogwarts itself with a fabulously gothic interior. You almost feel you're riding with the characters -  although I'll be honest and say that all that swooping around on broomsticks made me feel seasick. But T and Young A loved it so much they did it all over again, and would have done it a third time except that they ran out of time.

It is not all Harry Potter, of course. There's a colourful Dr Seuss section for younger kids, among many other things,  and as a Simpsons fan I was utterly thrilled at the chance to play in the Springfield funfair, drink in Mo's tavern and gloat over merchandise in the  Kwik-e-Mart, where I was tempted to buy this chocolate bar for Young A's big brother back in London.  I didn't, but you know, the boy's growing fast and eats anything and... it genuinely has bacon bits in it.  Wonder if he'd have eaten it.  

So Universal was a big success.   Young A recommends everything to do with Harry Potter, including the uncannily realisticl Hogwarts Express which takes you on a mysterious trip between the two Universal parks. We all loved the hilarious Minions virtual ride, the Simpsons rickety rollercoaster ride and the De Lorean car and train from "Back to the Future."   And I was keen on creepy Knockturn Alley, with its Bellatrix Lestrange animated "Wanted" posters.

As well as this, Universal has plenty of  places to sit and people-watch, imaginative play areas where  kids can let off steam, good places to eat, a sensible fast pass system and wasn't nearly as crowded as Disney.  

Oh yes.... Disney.    

Now, I always was a Disney fan. For about ten years I wrote about so many aspects of Disney in all kinds of magazines. At one point, I was spending so much time there that the Magic Kingdom started to feel like my second home.   I love Disney and have some incredibly happy memories. But....

....this year, for the first time ever, I didn't enjoy it.  It was just so stressful.  First, long lines because the entry gate system was flaky, then reduced transportation links so we queued for 3/4 hour just to get inside the park. A fastpass system helps you skip long ride lines, but it only does three rides a day, unless you plan carefully in advance via smartphone (which we had no chance to do).   Several rides were shut, there were many hoardings up.  By noon, I'd had two of my fast pass rides, but the last one wasn't for another eight hours!    The sun was beating down, everything was packed, and the prospect of little else but hours standing in lines stretched ahead.  

 Disney was always so good at handling large numbers of people without making them feel like cattle. But this was frankly awful, and park entry is very expensive, too.  Major Toy Story and Star Wars experiences are opening fairly soon, and will probably offer better value.  But really, if it is like that offpeak, now, I shudder to think how it must be at busy times.  

Oh dear!

Don't let me put you off Disney if you have never been.  If you can visit in low season, it will still feel amazing, and it has some awesome rides and much pretty landscaping.  And the four theme parks are only a tiny part of the resort.  There are water parks, nice restaurants, shops, entertainment and sports, while the Disney hotels are lots of fun for families.  Families, after all, are what Orlando is about.    

I've always thought, though, that one of the best places in Orlando is not a family-style attraction but the rather cultural Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. It is devoted to the life and works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, interior decorator and creator of the famous Tiffany glass, and it sits in N. Park avenue, in the centre of the classy, cobbled-street suburb of Winter Park.  A large and illuminating  collection of  rescued Tiffany material, it is also a poignant reminder of how much has been lost.    

This is Laurelton Hall, the Long Island mansion Tiffany built and lived in as a celebration of his life's work. He intended it as a permanent education centre to offer help and inspiration to future generations of applied artists. Sadly, it didn't work out that way.  Financial problems meant that it ended up deteriorating, and it was eventually consumed by fire, destroying most of its astonishingly lavish and imaginative interiors and decorations.

The museum's unrivalled collection of photos, art and artefacts fills in so many of the details of Tiffany's life.  It has his early sketchbooks and much material on his fascination with flowers and the natural world. You see how he built his business and worked to translate his obsession with nature into glass, and you learn, too, exactly how he created some of his pieces.  

.  Parrots lend themselves very well to Tiffany windows, I think.

and some of the windows show Tiffany's genius at creating extraordinary effects of light.

He was originally an interior designer, and I wondered what became of the millionaires' mansions he designed, surviving here only as black and white photos. However,  parts of some interiors have been  painstakingly reconstructed - here is a section of a chapel which caused a sensation in the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.  It is almost entirely made of fragments of glass.

There is also a surprising amount of jewellery.  I'd kill for some of this, though I'm not sure I would actually wear it.

The museum building is plain, elegant and modern, a good contrast to Tiffany's ornate style. If you have the slightest interest in the decorative arts, or in Tiffany, it's very well worth taking the trouble to visit the Morse Museum. 

From Winter Park, we drove on to Maitland.  Maitland itself is run down but it's home to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, a fascinating place if you're into wildlife.  Docents and conservationists are there to tell you anything you might want to know about, and you can get very close up to the birds, mostly ospreys, kites, bald eagles, and various falcons and owls. Most of them are rescued or unable to live in the wild.  And if you don't feel like looking at more birds, you can always sit peacefully in in the gazebo and just look at the waterlilies and butterflies.. 

By the way, whatever I might say about Disney World's stress, crowds and fastpass system, the fact is that the Audubon is one of the organisations quietly supported by Disney's Worldwide Conservation Fund - read about their work here.

On another evening we drove to Kissimmee and saw Medieval Times.  I know it's a franchise, and you can see it at other places than Orlando, but it was new to us and we all thought it was very good. Basically, it's a riding display presented as a kind of musical story, and is both eyecatching and curiously magical at times, as when the horses gallop out of the mist. 

Both riders and horses are beautifully dressed, as you might be able to see below. I  could have done without quite such a hard sell on the photos and souvenirs, but perhaps the profit on the souvenirs goes on the terrific costumes. Anyway, we had a very good evening immersed in an action packed event that completely involved everyone watching, and, most importantly, it got the thumbs up from Young A.

On another day, we revisited Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, one of the region's biggest attractions.  A little hint: as soon as you go in, head for the bus tour, because the final bus tour each day seems to depart very early, and it would be a shame to miss it.  Volunteers drive you round a flat, weird, gator-filled natural landscape full of historic NASA buildings and then drop you in the huge Apollo/Saturn 5 hall, from which you can progress to all kinds of interactive technology areas or see IMAX space movies, explore a rocket playground or even go on a simulated shuttle launch. You'd have a job to fit it all into just one day.

Our trip was marred by getting food poisoning in what must be the worst catering I've encountered since... well, since the last time I went to the Kennedy Space Center, actually. In fact, I'd give their catering one of my special Black Knife Awards for terrible food, except that there was so much to see, and it was so cool to be in the actual shuttle control room and Space Shuttle Atlantis was so evocative that, well,  I'd just say take your own sandwiches and enjoy the place, and don't even let the idea of buying their food cross your mind.

On the way back from the space center we stopped at the place below, which played a large role in our visit to Florida. Publix is just an ordinary supermarket for people who live there, but to me it seemed to be full of interesting and exotic foodstuffs.   Young A soon got to know his way to the hot chicken and chocolate icecream sections, which was all he felt he needed to know.

Badly Planned in Spain

I hope you had a good Easter.  Our idea was to take a few days in Spain, accompanying family members, just for fun.  We hoped to see the Holy Week (Semana Santa) processions too with their strange looking crowds of penitents in pointed hats.  (In case you don't know, there are several processions in mostly Andalusian towns and cities, each organised by different fraternities, each of which has penitents, a Crucifixion float and a Virgin float in the run up to Easter.  Go here for more information).

Since it wasn't  a working trip I didn't plan and assumed it would all be fine.  And it was fun, but still, I'm never going to skimp on the planning again! Haven't had so many disasters since a terrible trip to South Africa with a group of journalists and PR people who were literally knocking seven bells out of each other, the airline lost many suitcases and the hotel staff were stealing everything that wasn't nailed down - among several other problems. (But that's another story....)

It was the no-planning that caused most of the problems, not Spain itself.  And so despite many tears (not only mine) I'm really glad I went.     Semana Santa alone made it completely worth it, but there were many other wonderful things too. We were a couple of days in Seville, which was terrifyingly crowded (I'd broken the Planner's cardinal rule: never visit in high season. ) The crowds meant long queues, high prices, some spectacularly bad food and service and T's phone was lost or stolen in spooky circumstances. I also picked up a nasty bug,  which is still with me, and had to invoke my insurance because I was too ill to fly home.

Despite this, Seville did not disappoint.  I'm definitely going to return (off season).  Its Semena Santa processions are famous, although crowded, and I found this candle lit procession followed by an almost black Christ on the Cross rather thrilling. Although we were crammed shoulder to shoulder in the huge Plaza del Salvador, the vast crowd became quiet and attentive when the floats appeared..



A day or two later we stumbled, shellshocked, onto the Malaga train. Oh yes, RENFE, the Spanish rail network, seems to plan strikes at top holiday periods. Don't ask.  But we managed to get to Malaga, which is up there with Madrid as my favourite Spanish city.

 Malaga has a hinterland of high rise flats and hotels, but also a noble and fascinating history, some famous residents alive and dead (like Picasso and Antonio Banderas) wonderful architecture and a friendly atmosphere - not to mention good weather.

The walk to our lodgings from the station, normally about ten minutes, took us well over an hour as processions were in full swing.  We got much nearer to the floats than we had in Seville, and it seemed like a very different experience.  

Some of the men shroud or blindfold themselves when carrying the suffering Jesus (you can see one joining the back of the float in the video below). The float sways characteristically from side to side as the men march in a peculiar shuffling step. They have to lay it down every couple of hundred yards or less, for modern technology is not used- for Semana Santa, it's all human muscle power and candle light.

The suffering Jesus is a sad float, and of course the Virgin Mary is sad too. She's always a beautiful and innocent young woman weeping helplessly. But her float is an excuse to go right over the top, with dozens of huge flickering candles, (when dusk falls) hundreds of flowers and a long, long train beneath which she shelters her devotees.  As I noticed when I lived in Malta, the Virgin is a pin up of wondrous holiness.

She also tends to get brighter music, like this very Spanish sounding music below. Of all the floats I saw in Malaga, this particular Virgin probably had the most specular cloak . You can see that even getting round the corner is quite a business.  (It's filmed from the balcony where we stayed.    I got as close up as I could, but try and view full screen if you can.)  You can see the men lifting the float as the bell sounds.



 And no, we didn't get much sleep that night. I woke at 4.30 and I could still hear distant music. But it was worth it.

As for the penitents, they are very, very disconcerting for someone like me who is not brought up in the tradition. They just look so weird, striding around the city streets, like groups of wizards.

Many children marched in the parades, which must have been very demanding for them as they went on a long time and required perfect behaviour - and we never saw anything less.

From Malaga we took the local train to Fuengirola, where the in-laws have a holiday home. This time, we stayed by the church door, where the floats arrive, position themselves so that the holy ones can look down the entire length of the open church and pay their respects.  

After viewing the processions, it seemed the natural thing to do to go and have a coffee and a cake. 

If you haven't had enough of processions, this clip is perhaps my favourite. I love those Spanish looking faces. Some of them could be straight out of those 17th and 18th century paintings in the Prado.  It also gives me a feeling of how heavy and difficult it must be to carry those huge floats for hours and hours.



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