Days 10 - 17 08/06 - 15/06 Miami and Key West

It's difficult to know where to start as the days are definitely blurring into one another.
Time is passing so quickly and it's about a week since our last blog!! One day we went to a large mall complex (Sawgrass) about an hour's drive west. Very urbanised but all neat and tidy. Pretty uninteresting flat country but all lush and green. That is what strikes us most. The greenness. Even greener than Godzone! The mall itself was huge and you needed a map (provided) just to navigate your way around. It's all on one level and covers many acres. It was a weekend and we were late arriving so the crowds were starting to build. Seems to us that the only time to come here is early on a week day. We bought hardly anything because first it was almost impossible to find an item of interest in these huge stores. You'd need at least half an hour in each shop just to locate something as there appeared to be no-one to assist. The staff were all manning the checkouts. Quite frustrating really. And endless queues at the checkouts. It takes half an hour just to pay for something. And the examples of various forms of humanity that one sees are fascinating. It's an entertainment in itself - just people watching. We had something to eat from one of the many outlets in one of the food halls because we were hungry. That's the only reason that you would eat mass produced American food because it's just like mushy plastic. Jean asked at one place whether they put MSG in their food and they completely misunderstood her concern because they replied proudly - yes (!) it's in everything!!!
Another day Perry dropped Alan, Lorraine, Jean and Jim off at South Miami Beach for us to wander around on foot and see the sights. All condos and glitzy retail stores and people being seen. The restaurants all look good from the outside but again the food is at best very mediocre. And not cheap, especially for us when you need to add about a third onto USD prices to convert to Kiwi. Jean led us to what had been a Jewish synagogue where she had been last year and that was very worthwhile. It has been converted into a museum now and we had a guided tour. Miami has an extensive Jewish history and we learnt much. From early discrimination where Jews were only allowed to buy property in certain places to their eventual dominance in commerce and local government.
Then last Sunday Perry and Tracie very kindly organised a trip to Key West (4 hours SW of here). This was a major exercise with Nash and Carter - they seemed to have more stuff than the 6 adults and of course meant that we had to take their 2 SUV vehicles - the Mercedes ML 350 and the VW Touareg. Vehicles are so much cheaper here in the US than in NZ.
The drive south onto the Keys was fascinating. Prior to the road, the railway was constructed on a series of raised bridges spanning shallow water miles long. The railway was finished in 1912 and it was then possible to travel all the way from New York to Key West. Several wealthy individuals even had their own private rail carriages which were hooked onto a train whenever the owners wished to travel. The road which is built of everlasting concrete like most of America's main roads and turnpikes, was completed in 1938. It is unique in that it spans shallow water for much of its 80 mile length from Key Largo and it is the southern part of US1 which runs from the Canadian border and terminates in Key West. You alternately travel over water so clear that you can see the bottom and then you pass through the various Keys on the way south. Incidentally the word "Key" is thought to have been an English version of the word "Cay" which is a coral/sand island. Key West is so-called because it is the western most of the Florida Keys.
Some other historical tidbits for you -
Pan American Airways began in Key West with a mail service to Havana in Cuba in 1927 with a German Fokker trimotor F-7. THe following year a passenger service started.
In 1935 the largest storm to ever make landfall in the continental US struck. It is known as the Labour Day Hurricane and had 200 mph winds. It caused 600 deaths, destroyed much of the railway and cost 6 million dollars in damage.
Key West has always been of strategic importance to the US. Even as the state of Florida, along with 6 others seceded from the Union in 1861, thus igniting the Civil War, Key West was seized by a US Army detachment which had been garrisoned there under the command of a far sighted officer and it provided a harbour for Union Navy ships to blockade Confederate ports to the north which were being supplied arms by the French. It had also been used some 40 years earlier as a base for the anti piracy offensive that started in response to rampant and vicious piracy then flourishing in the Caribbean. It has been used as an important Naval base during the 1st. and 2nd. world wars and was visited by JFK in 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba is only 90 miles to the south. The Spanish-American War was largely supported from Key West in 1898. Cuba was liberated from Spanish rule at that time and it also marked the end of Spanish dominance in the Americas.
There is the Truman White House on the Naval Base where various US presidents came and stayed - FDR, JFK, Truman, Taft, Eisenhower, Carter and Clinton.
In 1850 Key West was the largest city in Florida with a population of 2,600. By 1860 KW had become the wealthiest city per capita in the entire US. It then had 2,900 residents, while to the north Fort Dallas (now Miami) had but 83!
We were staying in a separate house of 3 floors on a relatively small footprint. Kitchen and living on the ground floor together with a deck and very small in-ground swimming pool. Main bedroom on the 1st floor and then 2 more bedrooms on the top floor. Very comfortable except for the stair climbing which was a bit of a trial for Jim's knees and excessively soft beds which we are definitely not used to!
Key West Town is of course very historic as described above. Many old and very attractive houses in the typical southern American style with various period influences. It is mostly flat with the highest "hill" at 16 feet above sea level! Possibly KW's most famous ex resident is the American writer Earnest Hemingway. We visited his house which is a 2 storied structure very close to where we were staying. The house is built of coral limestone blocks which were excavated and fashioned on-site. The hole became a large basement which the Hemingways later turned in to a wine cellar. The house was built in 1851 by the first owner Asa Tift and became the Hemingway's home in 1931. The history of the 1st owner is tragic. His 24 yr old wife and very soon after 2 young children all died of Yellow Fever which was endemic at the time and which accounted for many deaths of Europeans including in the Armed Services where more died of Yellow Fever than from the results of combat! Tift continued to live in the house alone for the rest of his life when he died in his 80's. We were guided around the house and were given a potted history of Hemingway's life from when he volunteered as an ambulance driver in Italy in WW1 to when he tragically committed suicide in 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho where he was then living. In spite of spending a relatively short time in KW, Hemingway actually produced 65% of his published work during his time on Key West. He also lived in Paris prior to KW and later Havana before moving to Idaho. He was a avid big game hunter and game fisherman. He was married 4 times. A very talented writer of course, he also abused himself with alcohol and it is now thought he suffered from bi-Polar Disease. We would recommend reading Wikipedia to learn all about this remarkable man.
We then decided to do the famous Conch Train tour which is a road vehicle disguised as a locomotive towing 6-8 open carriages. It is the ideal way for first time visitors to Key West to see the island in a relaxed and friendly way. It has been running since 1958. The main points of interest are Sloppy Joe's Bar (where Hemingway used to drink), the Hemingway House, the southernmost point of the US and countless other points of interest on the way around. All narrated by the driver in a very folksy amusing manner.
Speaking of humour, there is one story about Hemingway that is worth repeating. Sloppy Joe's at one stage had to move to a new location as the lease had expired and there was a marble urinal that became surplus to requirements. Hemingway insisted on acquiring it and had it installed in his garden much to the chagrin of his then wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. He famously remarked that he had bought it many times over considering all the money he had poured into it!!
We found a great breakfast restaurant, Blue Heaven, which a local told us made the best breakfasts on the island. That may have been true; they were certainly very good. But we must make mention of the costs of Key West to a visitor. Firstly for us everything is 30% more expensive than shown due to the Kiwi/USD exchange rate. Then, everything is expensive anyway. At one stage we decided, when feeling hot after a bit of a walk back to where we were staying, to treat ourselves to a couple of fruit juices - Jean had a carrot one and Jim an orange. Both very good but USD7 each! That translates to a total of NZD20 which is 56 Malaysian ringgits. That would buy a very good meal for the two of us on Langkawi, but only 2 fruit juices on Key West!! In fact on Langkawi we routinely spend less than that on a 2 course meal for 2 plus a beer each!!
We only had one full day on Key West and then the next day it was time to return to Miami. So, after the palaver of loading the kids and all their stuff (and 3 pushbikes on the back of the Merc), we went to a local beach to have a swim before hitting the road. There was a beachside cafe selling the usual indifferent food and we had a plate of chips and a "toasted sandwich" (which was really just a sloppy burger). However, it was good to swim in the buoyant clear salt water once more where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Gulf of Mexico and the beach was good.
Then we hit the road for the 4 hour drive back to Miami. Sorry to leave Key West because it's a lovely leafy place with all its old historic buildings but we couldn't afford to stay there for any time at all. We've never experienced anything like it for rampant commercialism on an eye watering scale. Leaves other "tourist" places we've been to for dead.
Yesterday Perry was going up to Fort Lauderdale (about 45 minutes away) so we went along as we needed to visit a marine chandlery for some items we needed. We had found a West Marine store there so he dropped us off and we made our purchases. We had a different price experience there. Everything we looked at was significantly less than from Burnsco in NZ - even doing the currency conversions. We told Burnsco about that and all we got from them was - "if you're in NZ it's a fact of life and suck it up"!! There was an article in the NZ Herald recently about how NZer's are getting ripped off everywhere and it's no wonder that on-line buying is in the ascendancy. Many things sold in NZ are in fact invoiced through Australia as most agencies are held there and NZer's certainly pay the price due to multiple markups.
Finally we must make mention of the political situation. Everyone will be sadly familiar with the worst multiple shooting in US history not far north of here at Orlando. Predictably Trump is using the situation for all he is worth blaming Obama for the situation. In fact, it is a direct result of the insane gun laws in the USA. The killer just a week before walked into a gun store and purchased an automatic rapid fire assault rifle of a type used by US Special Forces. He also purchased a hand gun. Both completely legally. The fact that any nutter can do just that is the real disgrace and the National Rifle Assn. and the Republican Party in particular should take immediate steps to end this insanity. But Trump certainly won't and would likely deem it a necessity for all citizens to bear arms to counter the "Islamist threat". If the purchase and possession of these types of guns was made illegal with hefty fines for non compliance, America would undoubtedly be a safer place. There does seem to be a growing groundswell of support for restrictions on gun ownership though, and it is to be hoped that the Democrats win the Presidential elections in November. Then some moves in the right direction may occur.
Well, that's it for now from us - there will be more!! Hope you have enjoyed the read.
With lotsaluv from us..........
Jim and Jean
Normandy Island
Miami
Florida
USA.

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