Revisiting Key West for the First Time in 2011
A Graving visit and a Lame Museum
12.01.2011 - 12.01.2011
22 °C
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Summer, 9-11-2001 - and then the 2nd time down the ICW
& 2011 Back to Back Enchantment of the Seas and Lighthousing Driving South
& Bermuda
on greatgrandmaR's travel map.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
The ship arrived in Key West around 7. This was our first visits of two that we are going to make this winter.
We went up to eat breakfast in the dining room about 7:30 just about the time the ship was cleared. Bob asked for 2 pieces of bacon and went to get his cereal. He got about 6 pieces of bacon but today they had the regular milk cartons. We were sitting with a couple that the guy used to be an art professor at Clarion and also is a judo master. We talked about screen painting. (That is the art of painting scenes on window screens like they do in Baltimore)
Cold Egret amd Pelican
We walked off the ship about 8:30. We were at the dock behind the one at Mallory Square - near the Old Customs House and Museum.
Ship from the pier
It was cool and QUITE windy. Bob should have had a jacket. He spent time trying to get out of the wind. I was a little cool but it wasn't a problem for me.
Clinton Square monument
We went past the Clinton Square monument. The obelisk in the center of the memorial plot was erected by the Navy Club of Key West for the Union soldiers who lost their lives in Key West during the Civil War. The metal fence surrounding the obelisk was erected by R. Vining Harris, a staunch Confederate and the father of the builder of the Southernmost House, to memorialize the loss of Confederate soldiers.
Old Customs house
We walked out past the shops At the old Customs House there were some realistic sculptures - a man and woman on the porch with binoculars looking at a groups of nude women, and an artist painting them.
Painter and Nude bathers frolicing
Painter statue and couple on the porch with the binoculars
Statues of a photographer and a golfer
Sunday Walk by Johnson
Around the side was a little boy with an old man called "Sunday Walk" by J. Seward Johnson Jr.
Around front they have replaced the HUGE Grant Wood couple in American Gothic with a HUGE Renoir couple from "Dance in the Country"
Renoir_painting-_Country_Dance
Renoir "Dance in the Country"
We got a cab out to the cemetery.
Cemetery winter hours sign near the entrance
The 1847 Key West Cemetery has many stacked above ground tombstones (the ground is limestone and difficult to dig) and mausoleums. It is 13 acres and is surrounded by five streets... Angela Street, Frances Street, Olivia Street, Windsor Lane, and Passover Lane. The main gate is actually located at 701 Passover Lane. There are some very interesting stones in the cemetery
Mr. Peculiar
Historic marker - Sophronia Bradley Hall
Norman Artman - Editor and publisher of the Key West Citizen on the right
Grave of a Yorkshire Terrier - Sunny
In addition to B.P. "Pearl" Roberts (the local hypochondriac) whose marker says: "I Told you I was Sick." there is also a grave marker for Gloria M. Russell which says: "I'm just resting my eyes."
Roberts Mausoleum
There are some beautiful angel statues,
Burial of a child
there are several "Woodsman of the World" (WOW) markers which are often in the shape of a tree trunk, and there are also several of the Everlast Company's cast metal markers, made principally of zinc (colloquially called "zinkers")
WOW Zinker
Separate sections of the cemetery are set aside for Catholic and Jewish burials,
Entrance to the Jewish section
Graves in the Jewish cemetery
and there is also a central memorial for the U.S.S. Maine,
U SS Maine Memorial area
Antonio Diaz y Carrasco who served as Cuban Consul from 1903 to 1915 and then became a naturalized citizen.
Stone for a CSA Private
and one for the Cuban Martyrs .
A Lus Martires de Cuba
Tablet in the corner of Los Martires de Cuba
This monument was erected in 1862 to honor those who died attempting to free Cuba from Spanish rule during the Ten Years War (1868-1878).
Me sitting on the road next to the Cuban Martyrs
There are Masonic lodge vaults or sections for each of the major ethnic groups in Key West: white, black, and Cuban. One belongs to the Cuban lodge, named for a Catholic priest who was active in the Cuban independence movement.
I wanted to go in the Catholic Cemetery but when the cab took us around to that gate we found that all the gates except the front gate were locked. So we went in the front. and walked back to the Catholic Cemetery. 
Gate into the Catholic Cemetery from main cemetery
Priest who died in the yellow fever epidemic
Priests are buried here under the cross
Toppino family mausoleum
When we were here before, I didn't get back to that section at all. Bob took some pictures for me including Frank Adams who was a deputy sheriff killed in the line of duty.
Frank Adams grave site
We walked back to the cemetery entrance and I called another cab. He took us back to the Mel Fisher museum which is one place we haven't been. We got there about 10:10.
Mel Fisher Maritime Museum
She gave us the 'military' rate, but Bob is of the opinion (and I agree) that even with the military rate, it wasn't worth it. We went around and took pictures (which was allowed).
Sinking ship diorama
Bob looking at an anchor in the museum
Gold plate
Gold necklace and spoon
Bars of gold that were not on the manifest
Scissors
78 carat emerald
Majolica
American ship and Spanish Galleon model
Silver charger
Trade goods
Canon
Drawing of the Henrietta Marie
My reflection in the bathroom mirror of the museum
We were finished looking at things after about a half an hour. Even Bob was finished and he usually takes longer than I do because he reads all the signs.
We had intended to have lunch on shore to avoid the buffet, but it was still too early so we went back to the ship. We had to go through security and show a photo ID, and then go through the magnetic doorway.
We went back to the room, which had not been made up, and I edited photos. Bob took about 40 pictures and I took about 175. We went up to the dining room for lunch - there was a buffet. Standing in a buffet line (or any line) makes my back hurt. 
Windjammer Cafe
But we got some food and sat at a table. Our companions were two girls and their mother who is home schooling them - one a senior in HS and the other a freshman. An old man also sat with us.
.
Mirrors overhead
Reflection and Sculpture in centrum
Workers on the ship
When we looked down at the dock after lunch, the line to get back on the ship stretched all the way down the dock and looped back.
Lined up to get back on the ship
We went up to Tri-Bond Trivia. Originally we had four people and then two more women came, and then another man but we weren't supposed to have more than 6. Anyway - we got 13 out of 15. Tribond Trivia is you are supposed to figure out what three terms have in common. We got Slip, Slide and Square (knots) and House, War and Finger (paints) but we missed that Gauntlet, Enforcer and Rookie were all Clint Eastwood movies and we missed Flakes, Mug and Hair. So he asked for the two best players and we sent one of the women up and he gave them 22, Ballerina and Desmond. The man running the trivia's name was Desmond and our rep thought it referred to him, but of course it was Desmond Tutu that was meant.
We pulled away from the dock and I went out took some photos
US Coast Guard
Ferry to Sunset Key (formerly Tank Island)
Turtle Kraal tower (has been subsequently demolished by a hurricane)
Fort Taylor from the ship
Navy rec area from a cruise ship in 2011
Lighthouse
. The captain said there was a north wind and we are going north with the Gulf Stream - that's not good. A north wind makes the Gulf Stream VERY rough and we will be crossing it.
My Fair Lady dining room
Our room was not made up at all today. We went to dinner and I had
Bouillabaisse
Vegetarian Paella
and neither were exactly what I expected.
Sugar free Chocolate Panna Cotta with minted strawberries
Bob had bean soup and salmon.
After dinner we met Art and Elsie that were our dinner partners on Grandeur of the Seas in 2007. He uses a scooter. They suggested that I get a wheelchair from the ship. I did go to the desk and ask for a wheelchair and they said yes that I could have one. When I went to do the internet the wi-fi was down. They claimed it would be back tomorrow (the morning of the 13th). I went up and looked at email on their computers, but it was very slow.
They delivered the wheelchair to the room while Bob was there watching TV and I was up doing the computer. He was surprised and at first thought it was being delivered to the wrong place.
Towel animal
Tomorrow we go to Nassau.
Posted by greatgrandmaR 10:50 Archived in USA Tagged statues cemetery museum key_west Comments (2)
