Day 19 Key West

Today we got up nice and early to start our day off with a paddle board along the key front. Turns out, im terrible at paddle boarding! Still, i did it kneeling down which isn't standing, but its still socially acceptable. Matt sat cross legged on his, which is very uncool. We did manage to stand up for about 3 minutes. Its hard work. Breakfast was pastries on the waters edge, laid on by the hotel.

I drove to Key West, which took about an hour and 40 minutes. The scenery was beautiful along the way, and the bridges are really cool to drive on. Alongside the 7 mile bridge is a battered train line, which was destroyed 50 years ago in a hurricane. Its just been left as it was. So many houses are wooden, it makes you wonder how the keys would cope if another hurricane were to strike.

Key west was a real surprise. Its very pretty and has a huge amount of charm. I thought it would be comparable to south beach prices, but it was actually quite reasonable. (Maybe we would think differently if we hadnt come via Miami). We had a wander around Mallory square, a famous square right on the waters edge.  Then wandered into the Shipwreck Treasures museum.  Its full of all the things that 'wreckers' found from shipwrecks around the Keys.  They would find about 1 a week, and it made many of the millionaires whose descendants still live on the keys today.  They had a huge block of silver (said to be cursed), that we could (try) to lift up, and lots of coins, tabacco, ivory, bottles of all sorts of exotic things.  It was very interesting.  They had a tower that we climbed up, which gave us a good view of Key West.

 We had lunch at a little food stand.  I had fried coconut shrimp (again), Matt had a lobster roll, and we shared fried conch.  This is a local delicacy, and the islanders call themselves the conks.  It is like a sea urchin, and was quite tasty.

Then we had a wander to the most southern point in the USA.  We had to queue for a while to get a picture, but it's pretty cool.  It says 90 miles to Cuba on it too.

On the way back we happened to wander past a sign that said this way to the Little White House, and we decided to have a look.  It was a beautiful wooden building that was the summer residence for President Harry Truman.  I think 5 presidents stayed there, but Harry Truman visited 11 times, while President, and another 5 after.  We decided to go on a tour, so that we could see the inside of the building.  Our tour guide, Jimmy was fantastic.  He used to deliver papers to the building opposite, and to the crew on the Presidential ship that came to the Keys for communication purposes, every time Truman visited.  Jimmy managed to get the captain to show him around the ship once too.  He even sold Truman a paper once, when he was taking a walk through the streets of Key West.  He was so enthusiastic about Truman, and told us all the great things that Truman did as president. All of the furniture and fittings in the house were used by Truman and his staff.  It was a great tour, and one of the highlights of the trip.

On the walk back we stopped off in a restaurant for a Mahi Mahi fish taco, which was delicious, then on to Mallory square to watch the wonderful sunset.  There was a proposal on a sign on a boat in the bay, and a plane with a lovey message for two people who had got married that day.  We were chatting to some of their wedding party, who were standing next to us.  The sunset was stunning.  There were stalls and street entertainers in the square, so after the sunset we watched a performer, who was doing hand stands on 5 stacked chairs, and juggling fire balls.  Very cool.

I drove back home after, and we sat and watched the sea and the stars for a while before going to bed.  A really good day.  I wish we were staying in the Keys for longer.