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The stretch of Church Street that lies between Orange Avenue and I-4 is thick with enough specialty shops, restaurants, and bars to keep visitors engaged for hours. The anchor is Church Street Station, although the closure of several of its restaurants and shows has lessened the appeal of the complex. Despite this slowdown, the bar strip on the eastern side of Church Street near Orange Avenue remains very popular, especially with its three-level complex that has different bars on each floor. On weekend evenings, the street is blocked to traffic, which makes it easy to zigzag between watering holes such as the Ybor Martini Bar and Mulvaney’s, although hipper bars are found around the corner on Orange Avenue.

For more than 50 years, the venerable Colonial Lanes has offered patrons the sociable and quintessential blue-collar pastime of bowling. This 32-lane facility is a friendly and noisy place to knock over a few pins, so rent some shoes, pick out a ball, and let the computer keep score – but bear in mind that league bowling takes over the place between 6pm and 9pm every night, so avoid those times, unless you’re happy to watch. After the game, the place to go is the Colonial Lanes Bar & Restaurant, parts of which resemble a giant sunken living room (with bartenders standing on a lower floor than customers). Drinks are cheap, and the concept of rounding off prices never caught on here, so don’t be surprised if your tab is a quirky $4.38.

A pedestrian-only path encircles Lake Eola, offering a pleasing view of downtown’s skyline. Those willing to exert their leg muscles can rent swan-shaped paddle boats (see Swan Boats In Lake Eola). Real swans drift along in the lake’s shallow water and will venture onto dry land if offered a handful of the food that can be bought for small change. Plays and concerts are performed at the Walt Disney Amphitheater, a bandshell with surprisingly decent acoustics. Disney’s presence is more ostentatiously displayed with the rather incongruous Millennium clock located on the lake’s southern side.

Fountain, Lake Eola Park

Lake Eola Fountain, Lake Eola Park

Half of the Mennello is devoted to the work of Florida folk artist Earl Cunningham (1893–1977), who created vibrant, whimsical pastoral paintings glowing with orange skies and yellow rivers. The other half houses traveling exhibits of folk art. The lakeside grounds contain wonderfully quirky sculptures scattered here and there.

From the informative to the kitsch, the History Center highlights the formative periods and industries of Central Florida. Dioramas show scenes of early Native Americans, and a re-created Florida Cracker house can be inspected. There’s also a display called The Day We Changed, which chronicles the impact of the arrival of the Disney theme parks. Some exhibits fall a little flat, but many elements, such as the stuffed alligators and pink flamingos, betray a sense of fun.

This area, also known as the ViMi district (for the crossroads at Virginia and Mills avenues), is a less obvious ethnic enclave than, say, New York’s Chinatown. Nevertheless, it is still clustered with Vietnamese restaurants and shops, as well as delights from other Asian countries. The thickest concentration is south of Virginia, at Colonial Drive.