Adventures in St Petersburg - 75 to 78 - St Petersburg, FL

We have been enjoying St Petersburg for the past seven days and plan to stay until Wednesday.  Our dockage at the Municipal Marina puts us within 5 minutes of the heart of this exciting city.  Our section of the marina, which is one of four, is on the road to The Pier, which is the home of their Aquarium

Guided Discovery in St Petersburg

The Pier, home of the aquarium

St Petersburg, like Chicago, is a city with great resources, just on a slightly smaller scale (except the yacht club).  Within walking distance of the marina are The Pier, the History Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, The Chihuly Collection, the aquarium, The Salvadore Dali Museum, The Florida Holocaust Museum, many fabulous restaurants, a 20 screen movie theater, the yacht club and a downtown airport.

Museum of Modern Art

Impressive St Petersburg Yacht Club

Note: Chicago once had a downtown airport called Meigs Field, which was destroyed by the single most significant act of vandalism in the history of Chicago when Mayor Richard M. Daley illegally and unannounced destroyed the airfield's runway while planes we still legally on the tarmac.

Albert Whitted Airport, still viable

Thursday, the weather was beautiful and we spent a relaxed day, part of which involved exploring the downtown.  I also contracted to with a local maintenance company to detail the boat and with Cummins for our 250 hour engine and generator maintenance.

We had dinner at a restaurant called 400 Beach, which is just across from the historic Vinoy Hotel.

Dinner at 400 Beach

On the way home we passed Shapiro's. We tried to tell the proprietor that this was our store.  He politely did not agree.

Then we stopped at a brasserie called Cassis, got four fabulous deserts, which we shared along with a bottle of 2005 Mount Veeder Cabernet Savignon with our friends Tom and Brady.

Friday, the weather was perfect and the boat got washed from stem to stern.  We found a local boat maintenance company based on a recommendation from our fiends Tom ands Brady.  Phil, from SCI Marine, came down on Thursday to discuss the scope of the project, which included washing the topsides, hull, dingy, bridge and cockpit including the camper canvas' plastic glass windows and cleaning the cockpit carpets.  Phil wanted $425 for the project. We compromised at $275, which may seem like a lot of money but is in fact fair.  Two guys spend four hours to complete the project.  Note: It took me five hours just to wash the hull and topsides only.

The good news is that they did a spectacular job.  Guided Discovery has been restored to her post loop pristine condition.

We again had an enjoyable dinner with Tom and Brady at another neat Italian restaurant some distance from the marina.

Saturday, it rained in the morning but then cleared up with temperatures in the 60s.  I took a 10 mile bike ride and looked at the fabulous waterfront homes to the north while Diana and Kodi explored the downtown shops.  We also caught a movie, Fair Game, at Baywalk 20 theatre, where they serve beer and wine (how civilized) in the "adult" section of the theatre.  The movie, which deals with the Bush administration's outing of Valerie Plame and attempt to discredit Joe Wilson (who you may recall busted their Niger yellowcake bubble), was 4 stars.

An unusual and strange thing happened Saturday night when I took Kodi out for her evening walk.  It was 11:00 PM and we were waiting to cross 2nd Street on our way back to the marina entrance when a car coming from The Pier drove by and threw an egg at me.  The egg hit my left arm breaking the skin in several places and leaving a slight bruise.  Unfortunately, the assault happened so fast that I was unable to get the license number or even a description of the car.  I called 911 to alert the police to the act.

In retrospect, I feel fortunate that the "damage" was as light as it was.  I can't imagine what would have happened if the egg hit me in the eye.  That said, I have trouble understanding the point of such an impersonal act of violence.  What's the point?

Sunday, the weather was not perfect with fog and mist in the morning and overcast skies in the afternoon.  Still, low 60s is better than Chicago's 18 degrees. We had brunch at a Al Fresco, which is located steps from our boat, visited the Florida Holocaust Museum and played Frisbee with our furry kid (aka Kodi).  We spent the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum, which we found very engaging and well structured.  Although not as in-depth as the holocaust museums in Washington DC and Jerusalem (Yad Vashem), the museum does a great job of telling the story and tying it into present day prejudice.  Unfortunately, they did not allow photos.

Al Fresco

We had a great play session with Kodi who reliably retrieved the Frisbee for almost a half hour.  The word "reliably" refers to the fact that she stayed focused and brought the Frisbee to us every time.  It's taken three years to get to this point.  Kodi responds to the following commands during this activity: ready, get it, bring it and put it in my hand.

Kodi retrieving the Frisbee

The furry kid

Written by Les.