We had three main goals for the day (according to my younger daughter). She wanted to see a chicken, visit with a six-toed cat, and drink from a coconut. With those goals in mind, we headed out. Our first stop was going to be the Earnest Hemingway House. It is open to the public for tours (for a fee). We left the ship and used Google Maps to guide us. As we turned the corner out of a nearby neighborhood, we spotted this fellow:
They collect the entrance fee right at the entrance (the house is surrounded by a brick wall). We were told we could wait by the front steps for the next tour to begin. We really didn’t want to wait for a tour, since the main attraction for us was the six toed (polydactyl) cats.
We made our way into the house via the front door. There was a tour that was setup in the front room to the left. We waited a little bit in the hallway until the tour group left the room, then we followed behind them. We could easily hear the tour guide in the next room describe the contents as information about of the significance of the items to the house or that particular room.
The front right room was a parlor that contained a number of photographs and paintings from Hemingway’s life.
The next room we saw was the kitchen. It was blocked off from visitors, but you could easily see inside.
After we checked out the bedroom, we checked out the bathroom. The bathroom was also blocked off (like the kitchen) but it was easy to photograph.
We headed back downstairs and towards Hemingway’s writing studio. We found the rest of the cats outside, there must have been around twenty of them outside. Here are a few of the ones we saw on the way to the writing studio (which is about 30 feet from the main house).
After our refreshing drink, we started walking back in the direction of the ship. We went over to Duval Street to look for someplace for lunch. Duval Street is rather interesting, with a variety of unique shops and “establishments”. I wouldn’t necessarily advise taking younger children on Duval Street unless you are willing to explain the ways of the world to them.
We eventually settled on Caroline’s Cafe as our lunch place. It was an open air restaurant that could seat a large number of people. We sat down and got some drinks.
I don’t recall what we each ordered, but I do remember that the food was good. We would definitely go back here if we found ourselves on Duval Street.
Unfortunately, Nancy and I didn’t win any of the multiple games of Thugo, but we had a great time. We then headed off to watch Tangled in the Walt Disney World Theater. This was one of the best shows we have seen on board any of the ships.
After we got our placeholder, we started making our way towards dinner at Animator’s Palate. We ran into Mickey and Pluto playing near Shutters.
Dinner was fantastic, as always, since we love the items on the menu. We stayed late to talk with our server team and the kids ran off the clubs before the finale that occurs in Animator Palate. Nancy and I were tired from walking around Key West, so we headed back to the room to find our latest towel animal creation.