The Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida

I am concluding my 4 part post on my mini vacation to Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida.  It was a lovely time with great weather and plenty of things to do.

A view from the Salvador Dali Museum

Salvador Dali's signature on the outside of the museum.

My husband sitting on the "melted" bench outside the Dali Museum. We couldn't take photos inside so this is just a taste of what you will find inside.

Bird's Eye view at the Pier.

St. Petersburg Pier

A quick ride on the trolley

Trolley

A beautiful day to walk the pier. This is the entrance to the pier in St. Petersburg.

Tampa/St. Petersburg part 2

I am continuing my post on our mini vacation to Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Here are some more pictures I took at the Henry B. Plant Museum.

The piece of furniture shown here was actually a closet where the housekeeping staff kept their supplies and even a small sink.  The clothes are what was worn by the staff. The photo is a bit dark.

Some clothes that would have been worn during that time period-around 1891.

This is one of the dining tables all decked out as it would have been for an evening.  They purposely chose to use mix and match china patterns for a more informal feel.

This room housed several of the decorative pieces used throughout the hotel.   The round piece with the number 14 on it was a "garden seat".  Mr. and Mrs. Plant spent a lot of time and money choosing just the right furniture for their hotel.

Another shot of some of the attire worn by guests.

This photo is a bit fuzzy but I took it to show the lions on the red carpet.  Apparently Mr. Plant spent a fortune on this wall to wall carpeting only to find out half the guests wouldn't walk on it because the lion was representative of Great Britain and they felt it dishonorable.  Mr. Plant had it removed immediately after that. This is a remnant of the actual carpet.

The hotel boasted hot and cold running water and indoor plumbing for tubs and toilets.  This is a shot of the bathroom off of the guest suites.

Another photo of the bathroom. The very right hand corner had a small sink.  Originally the baths were done in wood planks but later changed to tiling for obvious reasons.

I still have plenty of photos to share so I hope you will come back for part 3.

Mini Vacation to Tampa/St.Petersburg

My husband and I decided to take a mini vacation to Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida for 3 nights and 4 days because it's close to home and we really hadn't seen much of these cities when we traveled through several years ago.

One of my favorite things to do no matter where I go is to tour old houses that have been  restored to their former glory. I just love history and get such a thrill to see how others lived.  The craftsmanship of those days is something to behold in itself.  Even their door handles had character.

We decided to head over to the University of Tampa and visit the Henry B. Plant Museum, formerly a luxurious hotel that opened in 1891, but now inhabited by the U of T with the exception of the museum portion.  It was originally constructed by Mr. Plant to be used as a winter resort for the very rich.  A suite of rooms back in those days cost $15.00 a night which was what one might have paid for a lavish hotel room in New York.

Henry Plant was the founder of the Plant System of railroads, steamships and hotels. He started out buying bankrupt railroad companies and soon connected rail lines between Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida.  In addition to his success with the railroads, he also ventured into steamships and hotels.  Because of his efforts Florida's West Coast began to thrive.

 This is a photo of the hotel from where we parked. The protruding cylinder shaped portion in front is where the museum is located.  The rest is used by the university.

 I just had to get one of this remarkable architecture and brickwork.

 This is the entrance to the museum .

 This is a photo of one of the rooms that was used by the guests of the hotel.  They actually had the bedroom portion in the back. It had high domed ceilings and electric lights, which was not at all common in that time period.  There was also a living room in the front where you see the chair and settee. Rather than the usual armoire they had an actual closet and chest of drawers as well as a bathroom. (photos of bath in later post)

 These rooms were designed for the elite visitors and came with their own hallways that led to the outside of the hotel so that you could come and go without actually going through the main lobby.  Across the hall from the bedroom was a private music room where you could entertain guests.  If you chose to have music you would just send out for a musician to come and play for you.
I just had to get a picture of this funky lamp. It's actually a floor lamp that stand about 5' high.  The shade alone is enormous.  They used several of this style lamp throughout the hotel.

This style of "attached" chairs are still used in some hotels.  The floral patterned fabric is the original.

I will have more posts of the Henry B. Plant Museum and our other adventures over the next few days.