Harry Truman and Hemingway

Today's wandering led us first to the Little White House. Originally the commandant's house at the naval base in Key West, Harry S Truman was a regular guest during his presidency. He reportedly came 11 times over a 6 year period. He liked the relaxed atmosphere. The house itself is furnished with the same furniture Truman used in the 1940s. It all looked just a little too much like the stuff in my grandparents' house, but fun to see and interesting to learn all the same.

Incidentally, one of the women on our tour said that Barack Obama was in Key Largo yesterday. Whether that was the cause of our traffic delays, I sincerely doubt, but who knows?

After the Little White House, we continued south to the Southernmost Point in the USA. There is a large monument, and, like in Lands End England, people line up to have their picture standing next to it. We decided that seeing it was enough. From that point, all you can see is ocean. Cuba is only 90 miles away.

Hemingway's House was a treat. Originally built in the late 1890s, it is the only house in Key West with an actual basement. This is because the original owner, an Asa Tift, brought his slaves down from his home in Georgia so they could dig coral blocks out of the ground. The house is set upon the quarry they dug. Hemingway and Mrs #2 were given the house as a wedding present. They lived there for 11 years, during which time, he wrote all but 2 of his books. He spent his afternoons fishing and happy hours at the bar down the street. When he divorced Mrs. #2, she kept the house, and it is decorated much as she left it. For the 1930s, it had a lot of mod cons (modern conveniences) including a swimming pool, which was a very expensive novelty given that there was no running water on the island at that time.

USAir magazine did a feature on Key West dining in May 2013, and today for lunch, we tried one of their recommendations: Onlywood. Like many restaurants in Key West, it has a small indoor space, but  most of their patrons enjoy the large outdoor courtyard. (Reminds me of Revelstoke BC). The pizza was terrific. The imported Italian beer (Moretti Rosso) hit the spot. Dinner tonight was at Sarabeth's. This one I found on my own. Sarabeth's is a chain of traditional American stuff. There are 4 or 5 of them, all located in NYC (except this one of course). We had fried chicken. Neither of us had had it before, and we weren't disappointed. 

Tomorrow, we're going to check out the beach.

p.s. a note about chickens and cats - they're everywhere! Roosters and chickens wandering in the streets, cats lounging on sidewalks or fences. It's all very picturesque.