Frank Lloyd Wright

Much of Florida is only about a metre above sea level.  This means that wherever you go, you're not far from a lake.  In fact I've just googled "how many lakes in Florida?" and the answer is over 30,000.  Thirty thousand!  On 3 million acres of land.  Lake Okeechobee, not far from here, is the second largest lake in the whole of the United States.  So, when we decided to go to Lakeland, a town only thrity minutes drive away, we knew we were in for a treat. 

And yes there were lakes galore.  But first we headed for Florida Southern College.  An amazing place. Many of the buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and some weren't actually built until decades after his death.  But they are all true to his vision and design, well ahead of his time.

This is a wall of one of the chapels he designed for the college. This inner wall echoes the outside walkways that he installed so that students were under cover for much of their day.

And yes, they are quite low.  No basketball players here, I would surmise! 

The window in the smaller chapel is striking,

and let's in a lot more light than the 'windows' in the other.

I found the whole experience really fascinating, and I rather wished I could have been a student here.

But what about the lakes?  Well, I could imagine living in one of the houses around Lake Hollingsworth.  I was so impressed by them that I forgot to take photographs!  It would be very tempting to buy one, if I won the lottery. However, I understand that in order to win, you have to buy a lottery ticket.  Hmm.  

We had lunch on the banks of one of the lakes.  And we had plenty of company.

I must say, they were very polite birds.  No squawking.  No pestering.  No pecking.  Just pathetic, begging looks!  

But we were hungry after our college walk.  They begged in vain.