Key West: The Tourist Sites

You can see the tourist sights of Key West in half a day. Here's a quick rundown.

There's Harry S. Truman's Winter White House, on the grounds of the old Navy Base:


A half-mile down the street is Ernest Hemingway's house, where he lived through most of the 1930s and wrote many of his major works. It's exotic architecture by Key West standards:


Hemingway's house is, of course, famous for its family of six-toed cats, which the museum operators carefully nurture:


There is the "southernmost point in the continental United States," which is neither actually the southernmost point (that's on the grounds of a nearby estate) nor 90 miles from Cuba (it's more like 94). But people line up to have their picture taken there anyway, much as they do at the Cape of Good Hope:



And, finally and most famously, the sunset ceremony. People line up along a promenade at the northwestern end of town to watch the sun set into the ocean:


The sun sets much as it does everywhere else:


And people clap. (One wonders if these are the same people who applaud routine landings on an airliner.) It's cute. But definitely in the "do-once" category.