Sunday
We wake up to Miami style torrential rain this morning and the forecast doesn't look good all day which is pretty good timing as we have the 4 hour drive down to the most southernmost point in the USA today - Key West.
I grab a Starbies tea and bagel for breakfast whilst Nat stays in bed enthrallled in a Ryan Reynolds film called Definitely Maybe. I hate to admit it but she got me into it when I got back which resulted in us not setting off until midday (and a few knocks of the door from the cleaners trying to get us out!).
A happy Nat that she managed to cling onto the room long enough to see the end of the film!
After that we head off into the very grey and wet day. Stay classy Floridian - you have been a delight. Maybe our new Super 8!
After a 4 hour, fairly uneventful drive we arrive in Key West. The scenery was nice on be way down but probably tainted our view as it was such a drab day. I also expected it to be a little more picturesque along the way but most of it is typical America highways - fast food restaurants, petrol stations etc with no real key points to stop and explore along the way. It is literally a single road all the way with water either side for most parts too. There are some really cool parts like the seven mile bridge that stretched across the expanses of water to join the islands. The person who won the bridge contract for this place must have hit the jackpot! The whole place is literally one long bridge.
Yet more ridiculous American cars...
We arrived at about 4pm at our gorgeous little hotel called the Truman. It's pretty new and designed beautifully. We are going to like it here. Great location too just off Duval St which is where all the action is.
http://trumanhotel.com
Our room...
Great little pool and breakfast place.
After unpacking we decide to go for an explore as it certainly isnt pool weather today. We are one block back from Duval Street so decide to go and check it out. What else do Brit's do when it's raining on holiday... Head to the pub of course!
Now in addition to crappy old American towns and a cowboy style steak house I also have another American guilty pleasure... Denny's!! Nat usually gives me one free pass per holiday so I decide to cash it in now and we have a spot of lunch here (our attempt at a light bite goes straight out the window!). Last time we were in a Denny's it was before we were about to jump out of a plane. Kind of wish we were doing this again today!
With Denny's ticked off the list and our stomachs full of copious amounts of unnecessary cheese mixed with a Sam Adams we head back onto Duval Street to continue to explore (with me reassuring Nat that we don't have to come back every morning for breakfast!)
Next stop is a bit of a dive bar called Cowboy Bills. One beer here then onto the next one.
And what another treat we have for the next bar when we stumble across my 4th guilty pleasure (in addition to Old motels in American towns, cowboy style steak house, Denny's) and probably my strongest one... Hard Rock Cafe. It's actually a nice one in terms of the setting in a lovely old building but the atmosphere and music isn't great surprisingly.
#48differentHRCvisited
#48glasses
#proud
#morestorageatmum&dadsneeded
#angryparents
After a few drinks the rain starts again so we decide to see what is on at the cinema. We find one a couple of miles north of Duval and go to see Interstellar. We are ao glad we did as the film was phenomenal. One of the best I have seen in a long time - very clever and really makes you think. Highly recommend. Christopher Nolan has surpassed himself.
On the way back we see yet another ridiculous car. Why ruin a BMW X6 by painting it a crappy gold colour?
Monday
The next day we wake up to blazing sunshine and barely a cloud in the sky. That's more like it! We have a gorgeous breakfast stay by the pool (tea and bagels and cream cheese - so easy to please!) and then find our loungers to 'settle in' for the day.
After a day by the pool we went for a run (which was surprisingly difficult due to the area of Key West actually being pretty small and fragmented making it pretty hard to map out a 10 mile run!). After a lot of meandering I managed it and we were back out on Duval Street by about 5pm to see find a spot for the sunset.
Now I should probably share a few facts about Key West. It is an island that marks the southernmost point of the USA situated right on the end of a very long and thin stretch of land between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. The island is about 90 miles from Cuba and definitely has a heavy Cuban influence. There is so much Spanish being spoken we could be in South America. The town itself is really beautiful. I haven't been to New Orleans but from what I have seen it looks very similar with those wooden style houses painted in pastel colours with big front porches and balconys.
Key West was also home to Ernest Hemingway. Lazily we don't bother going to the museum as we are not that familiar with his books. Maybe one for the reading list!
Anyway back to Monday night. We have a nice walk around town. Duval Street which is about 1.1miles long stretching from coast to coast and is absolutely bustling and jam packed with bars, restaurants and shops. Very much reminded me of what Bourbon Street would be like. A real party atmosphere.
Could never imagine anyone in the UK putting up such a huge flag. Looks cool though.
We manage to catch the sunset tonight which is nice but not quite as spectacular as the other night. My one criticism of Key West is that there is very limited access to the coast line here. For a place with poentially epic coastal scenary most of it is blocked off. There is no promenande along the coast with bars and restaurants and only one place you can see the sunset - Malloy Square which gets packed every night.
After the sun sets we head to a few more bars starting with El Meson De Pepe - a nice Cuban place overlooking Malloy Sq before heading just around the corner to the funnily named Hogs Breath Saloon.
Yet again this was another bar with live music on - we are absolutely loving the live music scene down here. There is live music on in literately every other bar, every night.
Next up we head to the famous Sloppy Joe's bar where they had an amazing band on. Such a talented group.
The girl on keyboard (who was amazing and just like Alicia Keys) got her little 8 year old brother up who was also absolutely brilliant. Like a little Michael Jackson. Talented family. They gave him his dollar at the end and he ran back off the stage chuffed to bits (he gets a dollar a song and I think he should up his fee!)
Sexual manequins
By this time we haven't eaten since breakfast, have been for a run, been knocking back shorts in Sloppy Joe's and it's 10pm so we are both pretty darn drunk and starving.
We find a fantastic resturant just around the corner from our hotel (no not Denny's) called Nine One Five and had some fantastic food. One of the best steaks I have had! (Or maybe it was terrible and we were just so drunk and ravenous to care / remember - who knows!). Lovely setting though sat up on the balcony overlooking Duval Street.
Our lovely little pool by night.
Tuesday
You know the drill by now so I won't bore you by repeating it. Breakfast, pool, chilling etc. I have finally got into watching the TED Talks online though. Been on my to do lost for years and finally getting around to it. Such fascinating, interesting and inspiring 18 minute pieces of entertainment.
After another run (with very sore legs) we head out to a restaurant that comes highly recommended called Blue Heaven just off Duval St. It's a lovely setting underneath a big old tree with a live band playing. Another highly recommended place to eat. The snapper, monk fish, scallops and shrimp were amazing. The other thing to note about Key West is the chickens - they are roaming everywhere around the streets including this restaurant which had a cute baby one running around.
Bit of voyeurism.
Duval St.
We are pretty tired tonight so go for a night cap at Willie T's before bed. This place is famous for what it's be thousands of dollars worth of $1 notes pinned to any visible gap on its wall, ceiling, trees you name it.
This is a tree. Looks really cool.
Unfortunately noone pinned any money to Nat (despite her Greek heritage too!)
Wednesday
Another wonderful day in paradise.
Love this hotel.
We decide to not bother with a run today as our legs are dead so do the complete opposite - few beers by the pool. We play a few more games of shit head and I make it a whopping 7-0 to me. Not sure what has happened to Nat's card playing skills!
We decide to head out early for a wander around and to do a bit of Christmas shopping. We grab a quick panini and walk to the Atlantic side of Duval St before heading back to the other end. After a very fruitful Christmas shop (never been Christmas shopping in shorts and flip flops before) we go for a deserved beer in Hard Rock again.
On the way back I spot what looks like a great roof top bar to catch the sunset from. Off we march up there, following the signs to 'Garden of Eden' bar and wondering why there were signs for no photos. It becomes clear pretty fast when I arrive and find a middle age man stark b*llock naked sat on a stool at the bar. Not an item of clothing in sight. Turns out it is a nudist bar and to top it off has no view of the sunset. Just some old guys hairy ass. On we go. The bar on the middle floor (Bull Bar) was actually pretty good though with a great vantage point sat on the balcony overlooking the street. After heading back and getting changed we head back out to here for a few.
An example of the type of buildings around here.
Gorgeous sky over Duval St.
After we head to Rick's bar for a few where we have yet more great live music from what turns out to be our own personal juke box (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters the lot!). We have been operating a 'cashless system' since being here but really needed some cash to tip him so I head out and manage to find the worst cash point in the world. Firstly it cost $4 to get money out. Annoying but fine for the convenience. It then waited an age to dispense my $60. I was just about to leave before it fired out my three $20 notes directly onto the floor. Naturally the wind picked up at that point and I spent the next few minites scrambling around the floor like one of the chickens going after my money! Must have looked pretty funny.
After we have dinner at a place called Caroline's which did one fine jambalaya packed with shrimp, chicken and chorizo. Delicious.
Not sure what this hotel was meant to be. Looked like one weird place.
On the way home we are passed again by these guys who have been running past all night singing obscenely funny army style songs whilst doing a marathon.
Thursday
Sadly it's our final day today. Our flight isn't until 7:10pm so we have plenty of time to drive back up the Keys to the airport. We have breakfast, check out and have a little drive around the town one last time before hitting highway 1 north starting at mile 0.
It takes about 3.5 hours to get to Homestead where we stop for some lunch. Being short on time and decent options we decide to go back to our favourite from Saturaday night - the Longhorn Steak House for one last steak. Rude not too!
We get to the airport and drop the car off after a lot of faff trying to work out the toll roads (you do nothing and they will just bill you apparently) and finding a petrol station to fill the tank back up. Always hate dropping a hire car back - you always end up growing quite fond of your trusty travel companion!
Lovely sunset over Miami as we head into the airport.
Final beer, wine and cheese in the lounge and we take off an hour late on a fairly empty plane which makes it pretty comfortable as we can stretch out.
So long South Beach and Florida. It's been another fantastic holiday. Now back to the awful cold weather in the UK. We are looking forward to getting in the Christmas spirit though as for some reason everywhere we have been has been completely devoid of anything Christmassy. Not seen one Christmas tree, heard one song and only seen the odd TV advert. It's like we have found a Christmas black hole!!
So long until our next trip trusty blog.
