For lunch we went to the first of today’s two office Christmas Parties. It was held at the Gaylord Palms Hotel which is a couple of miles from the mecca that is Disney. It is a bit of Disney in itself with a huge atrium in the center that boasts areas that are ‘historically’ Florida by nature – Key West, the Everglades and St Augustine. What it also boasts is a free (if you pay $12 for parking) Gnome hunt. That’s right, they give you a hint sheet and you wind your way through lagoons, waterfalls, castles and swamps looking for twenty hidden gnomes. We found 16 including the gnome who had plummeted from his ledge to his destruction. Not bad for first timers.

We also ate at the Villa de Flora Italian Buffet. As buffets go, it was pretty good. I would recommend the tomato basil soup with sun-dried tomato pesto and parmesan on top and the lovely chicken piccata and I hear that the salmon w/ pesto was good but not terribly pesto-y.
The desserts were pretty good – the chocolate chip cookies being the standout.

We had fun searching for gnomes and wearing sweaters in the air conditioning. This is a nice Floridian thing to do, after you mow the lawn of course.