Chilling in Key West

Key West is the kind of place when it seems acceptable to say 'cool' and 'dude' without it feeling odd and slightly dated. This is clearly where the old hippies who got to cold in Haight Ashbury moved to spend their later years.

One of the unexpected things, at least for me, is that Key West is such a small island 2 by 4 miles so everywhere seems very close and is easy to work too. Granted that US visitors who seem unfamiliar with walking need to hire electric buggies or jump on a Hop on - Hop off bus or 'The Conch Train', we found walking the best way around.

Our route for today was something like very much like this:

but first we had breakfast and then I went to Mass.

Breakfast

When we first came to the US in the 1990s hotels simply didn't do breakfast. Some of the unusual ones would offer a blueberry muffin and a coffee to go, but most had nothing at all. Now things have changed and many of the hotel chains promote themselves by the quality of their breakfast. Best Western is one of those chains and they are right to say that their 'free' breakfast is of a high quality.

So having for up at 6.30am I showered and dressed and we headed down for breakfast at 7.15am. Here at the Hibiscus there is a big breakfast bar with a wide range of items available, from cold to hot, including a wide range of breads, cereals, juices and drinks. 

I opted for a cheese omelette, bacon and link sausages followed by a bagel and cream cheese. 

Drew also had an omelette with bacon and sausages, but washed his down with nut muffins. 

Mass - St Mary Star of the Sea

Mass was at 9.00am, but as I had the opportunity I left the hotel at 8.15am and after a few minutes walk I got to Church in time for 30 minutes of private prayer before Mass began. Time to thank God for all the blessings of the holiday to date and every other blessing in my life. St. Mary Star of the Sea is a very homely, prayerful church.

Mass began at 9.00 and the church was full. The Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski. A very prayerful man with Polish roots (a Polish Father and a Polish American Mother) who grew up in Florida he had driven down from Miami on his motorbike yesterday, so was complaining about the long, long queues which we experienced too.


Archbishop Wenski is in Key West to take part in a EWTN programme called Long Ride Home which explores Masculine spirituality, especially that of Bikers throught he journeys of Bear Woznick and his friends. 

The Long Ride Home programme is in the reality TV genre and Archbishop Wenski picked up on this theme in his homily. He highlighted that as well as reality shows most of US TV these days are make-over shows and what these often do is hide the negative bits of themselves which people see and replace it with something new. This could be their make-up, clothes, weight, looks or their homes that they make-over. But in today's Feast of the Transfiguration we see in the gospel (Matthew 17:1-9) Jesus being made-over not by hiding anything, but rather a reverse make-over not hiding but revealing his transcendence.  

The Archbishop went on to remind us all that the temptation at the Transfiguration is to do what St. Peter does and asks to 'build a tent' on the mountain, to try and stay there, but we must come down the mountain and live our lives informed by the experience of Jesus being transfigured. This message is so relevant to me as I love coming to God in prayer, to experience his presence close to me, but like Peter it is to easy to stay there - when Jesus gives us his blessings so we can take it with us in the way we love and care for those whom we meet. So with the Archbishop I pray that I may come down the mountain and make a difference by the way I live my life.  

The Archbishop also reminded us all that August the 6th, long the celebration of the Transfiguration, is also the day that marks the anniversary of Hiroshima. He highlighted that our makeover is not the love of power, but celebrating the power of love, which can overcome the hurt and hatred marked by Hiroshima and the start of the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) world.

As well as a strong homily I noted with amusement some of the prayers at today's Mass. Every Sunday Mass has a series of Intercession Prayers (sometimes called Bidding Prayers) and they tend to reflect local needs. So in Cardiff we often pray for young people getting married, or babies being baptised into our parish community, or school children in their exams or return to school. But here in Key West I heard prayers for things I'd never heard prayed for before: 1 - Please bless our Lobster Fishermen that this new season will be a time of great harvest (I'm all for praying for Lobster fishing and eating!!) 2 - Let us pray at the start of this Hurricane Season that we may all be kept safe (Hear! Hear! thought I). 

Carrying on the theme from earlier this holiday of hymns sung to existing tunes, the final hymn at Mass today was to the tune - I Vow to Thee my Country - not those words, but it did seem a strange tune, not one I associate with Church.

Walking Around Key West

Mass finished at 10.00 and I got back to the hotel at 10.10am. We left again at 10.45am for our walk.

Southernmost Point

We began by walking to the Southernmost point of the Continental USA (Hawaii is further South). Given we had visited the Central point two years ago, it made since to visit here. Drew had also stood in Havana nine years ago and pointed north, so we are at the nearest point to that site. Only 90 miles south. <<Co-Pilot's note: an interesting factoid, unlike the central point of the Continental USA, which is at the geographical centre, the Southernmost point is not actually the southernmost point, there is a dirty great big military base on that point of land, so this is the closest you can get to it.>>
  

Next we walked up to Ernest Hemingway's House and Museum. We met Sarah, our guide, who gave us a 45 minute tour of the house. Drew kept whispering behind me that we weren't getting much mention of Hemingway's House in Cuba, which we visited when there, but Sarah did finally admit that Hemingway only lived here from 1931 until 1940 when with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. At divorce she kept the house, and though she left it back to him in her will he preferred the Cuban lifestyle and climate. 

We were warned not to sit on furniture but the cat’s can. Hemingway was a fan of six-toed cats and at the house there are 50 of them wandering about.

An additional image of the Hemingway House is the balcony (lanai) that runs around the upstairs. I'd just take a photo of Drew on the balcony when it was explained that this was a famous balcony. Indeed it had been used in the making of the James Bond film License to Kill, you will see Timothy Dalton, as Bond, <<Co-Pilot's note: For the record, the best Bond.>> on the balcony at about 1 minute 10 seconds in this You Tube clip.

Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters

Almost across the road from Hemingway's House (and also visible in the clip) is the Key West Lighthouse, the story goes that Hemingway bought the house so that when returning home drunk he could find his way by the Light!

The Lighthouse was built in 1848 and its light raised in 1890s it is very well kept and there are 88 steps to the top. There are some amazing pictures all over the island that can be taken from this spot. On Flickr you will see a 360 degree set of shots taken from the top.

The Keeper's Quarters, originally the home of two families needed to support the Lighthouse, is now a museum with fascinating displays you can read about them here.

Truman’s Little White House

Harry S Truman, unlike his predecessor Roosevelt, didn’t have a home estate he could return to in the summer. Nor like his current successor did he have a Golf Resort, he could visit.

Therefore in the 1940s he converted a Navy Base in Key West into what we would now call the Summer White House, but in those days became known as the Little White House. Truman would spend his summers here and get out into the seas around the Keys fishing. 

The Little White House has many artefacts from the Truman era and photos from subsequent uses – including when McMillan, the British PM, and Kennedy, then President met here. 

In more recent times the peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh was negotiated between Armenia and Azerbaijan by Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State. This was a nice taste of history. 

Drew also enjoyed making use of the podium as you can see from the photos on Flickr.  

Mile 0 Marker

We walked back to the Main Street and came to the point where is crosses Truman Avenue at Mile 0 Marker on US1, the southernmost mile marker in the continental USA. 

Mallory Square

We walked up to the other side of the Island and came to Mallory Square, famous for its sunset parties, but also a tourist trap for anyone visiting this area. From the speciality Key Limeade, to Key Lime Pie coated in chocolate and on a stick. I think Drew assumed it was a Key Lime flavoured chocolate ice cream, but no, it was as billed, a Key lime pie dipped in chocolate with a stick inserted. 

While Drew had his Key Lime Pie and we both had diet cokes we were joined by parts of the Keys community that are so ubiquitous that we’d failed to mention them before – these are the feral chickens or as they are sometimes more politely called the Gypsy Chickens of Key West, there are so many of them all over the island that they seem common place. But only because Key West is so unlike anywhere else I have ever been can this seem so. The laid back, Spanish, Caribbean style culture here means no one bats an eyelid at the Chickens running back and forth across the roads and anywhere else too. 

Mallory Square also has a Mall, a Pirate’s Shop a range of ‘Keys’ artefact shops; nothing we would want to buy, but plenty of which to take photos. We walked through the Old Key West Sponge Market and Drew was surprised to find real sponges for sale, he is used to manufactured ones. So we had a discussion about why people would use animal corpses to clean themselves. 


Leaving the Sponge Market we walked onto the dock overlooking the next island, Sunset Key. We then walked across to the Key West

Historical Military Memorial and read the signs marking the various events in history for which the island and its military presence has been famous. 

From Mallory Square we meandered our way back all along the the length of Simonton Street back to our hotel. Our five hour walking tour ended at 3.45pm in the cool of our air-conditioned room.

Dinner

We hadn’t booked any places for dinner on Key West, though I had three possible options in my planning list. The first we had been to last night, the second was Louie’s Backyard with its Creole style food. We walked the two by two blocks to Louie’s but it was clear it was full when we arrived. It was 7.30pm and the next seating for two was 9pm, so we booked for tomorrow evening at 7.30pm and walked along to Duval Street and went up there.

Our third possibility was called the Blackfin Bistro, and thankfully this tiny place did indeed have one table for two not occupied, the other seven tables were all full, so we sat at the window and ordered dinner. Our waiter was a soft spoken French man from the Champagne region and there was a clear French influence on the menu.  

Drew began with Goat Cheese Croquettes, these were served with sweet potato crisps, red onion confit and honey on a bed of asparagus in tempura batter. The cheese flavour was very delicate but the onion and honey confit could have overpowered the cheese, but it didn't in fact it seemed to bring out the flavour of the crumbly goat's cheese.

I chose the Charcuterie which was a plate of four elements - Chorizo, Salami, Chicken Liver Pate and French Country Style Pate - the meats were obiously sourced from their original countries with wonderful flavours. The pates too had a French style with the Liver Pate being smooth and rich, whereas the country style was rough and chunky. The idea of a plate of meat, or of cheese, or even better of both, is a delight for me, so was this dish.

Drew then went on to his Grilled Yellowfin Tuna served with ginger and sweet soy emulsion, soba noodles and tempura french beans. Drew was amazed to see how much Tuna had been served. It was 50% more than he would have expected, but that didn't put him off. The Tuna was cooked to perfection, crispy outside soft inside, really lovely. The ginger and soy went well with the tuna, but were a bit to piquant for the noodles which lost their own flavour to that of the sauce.  

I went for the Blackend Mahi-Mahi, the first time I have had this fish this holiday, though it is one of my favorites (when called Dorada) in Spain. These were served with Cuban style black beans, grilled asparagus, potato cakes and mango coulis. The mahi-mahi was wonderful, the sharp mango coulis bringing out the flavour. The asparagus was lightly steamed and wonderfully crisp. The beans were also rich and tasty. Any of the parts of the elements would have been delightful, together they were a delight.

Even though we had a busy day, netiher of us wanted to rush to bed, so we walked some more, up Duval and then back down Simonton. We arrived back at the hotel by 9.45pm and were in bed shortly afterward.