Friday May 4 (Key West and back to Botnton Beach)

Last night I had a swarm of termites in my room, yuk, they self terminated on the lamp and in the bathroom sink!!!!


Today was all about CATS, lol!

I woke early, so decided to go to Hemingway House for opening time of 9 am. I grabbed a croissant and latte from the French cafe across the street before heading off for the very short walk. 

When I first looked outside I thought it was going to rain but the clouds moved on and it was another dry, warm day!

Fortunately, the house was not crowded when I arrived, however when I left it was! As we were heading home today, I only stayed about an hour and a quarter. 

I took a few cat photos before joining a guided tour, I am pleased I did as it was very interesting.

During WW1 Hemingway (1899-1961) was in Italy and badly injured by an explsion, at 18 he fell in love with is nurse and asked her to marry him, she was much older and declined the offer, lol! 

He was a cub reporter in Illinois before being sent to Paris by the Toronto Star as it’s European correspondent. He went with his first wife (of four) who he had married in Illinois. However, while in Paris he fell in love with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, etc etc

He and Pauline moved to Key West in 1928 and bought house in 1931 for $8,000, it was the largest piece of real estate at the covering one acre. 

They lived there until 1940 but while in Key West he was very prolific, writing most of his books and short stories during that time.

After the first two best sellers Hollywood came calling and the money started rolling in. His study was the original hay loft of the carriage house and was opposite the master bedroom. 

So he had a walkway buit that joined it to the master bedroom, hence it was very private as there was no other way to get to the study. 

During that time, Hemingway met his third wife and took her with him to London, Pfeiffer got wind of the affair and decided to install a swimming pool where the boxing ring was, it cost $20,000. 

Hemingway was not amused when he returned and when he knew how much it had cost he threw a cent at Pfeiffer declaring she could have his last red cent, lol! it is set in the concrete near the pool!! 

His fourth wife was the longest of his marriages, lasting 16 years until he committed suicide at his hunting lodge on Idaho in 1969, he was manic depressive! 

She and two of his three sons ran the house until it was sold to a local lady. People would arrive at all hours wanting to see the house so she set it up as museum. 

Almost all of the furniture is the original from Hemingway's time, much of it was antique when it was purchased 

There was a wedding on the property yesterday, so the workmen were taking everything down, being very careful with the chandelier, lol!

There are 54 cats and all have polydactyl gene but only about half have the extra toes, I saw about four. 


They are all named, many after people associated with him. There was a Pfeiffer, for example, there have possibly been many of that name over the years. Most are spayed or neutered but a few are kept for breeding to continue the line. I saw a young cat, about one, in the gift shop playing with a toy mouse. 


She had recently been spayed and had the extra toes. 

Another cat with a beautiful face, was climbing the shelves and knocking books ovef, her name was Shirley Temple and I would say very well named.I went back to the hotel for my final packing and the guys helped us carry our gear to the car, I have to say they were wonderful. Jackie had returned the electric car so we left just after 11 am. 

It was a pleasant drive along the Overseas Highway and we stopped at the same Starbucks for lunch. We drove back through Key Largo and picked up the Turnpike so we made good progress. 

We then moved onto I95 and it was stop/go from there almost until we were to turn off for Boynton Beach.

It was good to be back, tired but happy, and Abbey was pleased to see us, lol! It was a great trip and I am very grateful to Jackie for taking me to visit Key West!!

One last comment about Key West. Almost everywhere you go you will see chickens in the streets. A group of young chickens ran across the road in front of us the day we arrived, mum wandered across at her leisure even stopping to peck comething on the ground, lol! The story goes that in one of the hurricanes, all the chicken coops were blown over, it is certainly believable!!