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We awoke Monday morning to the sound of a Rooster 🐓 crowing! Yes, there really was a Rooster at the Fairfield Inn. It turns out there were lots of chickens all over Key West. We were told that at one time there was cock fighting on Key West! That is now illegal. As a matter of fact, you are not supposed to feed them, catch them or even touch them! The are protected by a law that also protects wild birds 🐦!
Lucky for us, the Fairfield Inn and several other hotels in the area shared a shuttle bus. We had to pay extra for the service, but the shuttle took us to Duvall Street on the hour and half hour. We didn't even have to start our van to get around. There were also bicycles, motor scooters and golf carts for rent and the island had it's own airport. A lot of people would fly in then use the shuttle and fly back out never needing a car! If you're from a big city, I quess you are used to that. In the Midwest we drive everywhere!
So the shuttle took us to it's drop off and pick up place near Duvall Street and we started our day!
We started in a market on Duvall St. by picking up a few souvenirs for our Grandson's! Then we walked down by the wharf. We got a late start, so we decided to have lunch right away at a large sea food restaurant. It was an open air restaurant right on the bay or bight as they called it on Key West.
Here is what we experienced!
Do you see the pigeons? I decided to throw them a couple of French Fries! It was funny to watch them chase each other. What amazed me was that there were actually pigeons in a restaurant to begin with! Then I saw what happens when you feed them. All of a sudden we were swamped with pigeons! Tom wouldn't let me give them any more fries!
The restaurant was called the, "Water Front Brewery". I had the fish 🐟 and fries! The fish I had was the catch of the day! Fresh and delicious! We also had an awesome waiter from Argentina who took great care of us! One more thing and I'll move on, if you fish off Key West and catch a fish, you can take it to any restaurant on the island and they will cook it up for you!
So, after lunch we headed off down Duvall Street. We browsed in and out of shops as we worked our way down toward Ernest Hemingway's house! For me, the polydactal cats were a must see.
We were not supposed to pick up the cats but I couldn't resist petting them! The cats were so used to it they didn't even move!
Ok so maybe I tried to pick up a cat. The cat definitely had a mind of it's own! They told us that they let one cat have one litter of kittens each year. In that litter, half of the kittens will be polydactal.
Hemmingway's house was very cool, he even had his own writing studio that was connected with a cat walk ... get it, cat walk, ha, ha! Really, he could walk out of his upstairs bedroom right to his studio! For me it was the cats that were the coolest! They had their own cemetery and Hemmingway would name his cats after his famous friends. Like Marilyn Monroe etc.
They also have their own vet right on the property! I would say that they are probably the most spoiled cats in the world!
After Hemmingway's house, we walked on down to the farthest point south in the United States. There was a big line of people waiting to take their picture. People were taking turns taking pictures for each other! So here we are!
We are 90 miles from Cuba! So after that we made our way back up Duvall St. to our pickup point! It was strange being some place warm where the sun sets at 6:00! We decided we were tired so we returned to our hotel.
Yes Key West has quite the night life and there are alot of bars. Maybe if we were 30 years younger we might have been interested. Instead we went back to our room to snack and crash for the day! That was our first day on Key West! See you tomorrow! FG Farm Girl