Wednesday was a walking day.
Not that Tuesday wasn't! We had finished out Tuesday evening with dinner at Pepe's (the daily catch for me, stone crab with claws thick and heavy as stoneware for Jeff); taking in the sunset, incoming sailboats, and notorious acrobats at Mallory Square, eith a little key lime pie; and stops at various other famous establishments for local beer and local lore.
Thank goodness for a quiet hour the next morning, which I spent blogging from a covered, palm tree-surrounded deck between our guesthouse and another. Coffee, and later a hot breakfast was served three doors down at the main house. Altogether ideal.
We then hit the town again and through several wrong turns ended up at the Hemingway house. What was to be the last stop was now the first. That was fortunate as Mrs Hemingway had replaced many of the interior ceiling fans with elaborate, rather astonishing, blown-glass chandeliers. Impressive. Also a bit hot for the clusters of tourists... The whole house is architecturally interesting, the people who lived there big personalities! Who else creates their own king-size bed (Hemingway was over 6ft) and then negotiates with a Spanish monastery to have the monastery's elaborate iron gate sent home as a headboard? Or puts a boxing ring in the back yard, only to have your wife replace it with a swimming pool while you are on a protracted European journalist assignment - a pool that is still the largest in-ground pool in the city? The polydactyl cats are another story.
After such heady story telling, we headed over to the "butterfly museum", for gentler but no less fascinating company. An open-greenhouse path amidst gorgeous tropical plants brings you face-to-wing with hundreds of free-flying butterflies and local little tropical birds. The blue butterflies are Blue Morpheus, the most proliferative. The birds were mostly a colorful assortment of finches and cute button quail. The little white guy looked like he was waiting to escape, then flopped down to sun himself like a kitten. Pretty comical.
The last tour followed lunch and a Cuban history lessen at Pepito's (Mmmm plantains and Cuban pork!), the Shipwreck museum. You already know the history. We did climb to the top and it's clear why that merchandise clearinghouse was also a wreck lookout!
By that time we were ready to get out of the sun and humidity. Heading back to the Cedar house by way of the Key Lime Factory we took to the pool. The fishing wharf seemed like a quieter alternative to the town, so we walked for a while there before dinner at the Turtle Kraal. More excellent fish, probably from one of the fishing boats docked nearby judging from the catch of the day listed on the chalkboard at each boat. Quiet is a good thing on vacation, so we retreated to our covered back porch with coffee and - the best key lime pie, from the Factory earlier that day. It really was the best. Just note that down for your next road trip to the Keys.
