12/8 Ybor

We are going on a cruise with the Snyders and the Reddicks - awesome! It sails from Tampa and since we are driving there and they are flying in, we all met in Ybor the day before to relax and still be sure to make the cruise on time. 

And we could use the relaxation. Last week we took the truck in for what seemed like a minor fix and it's still not done, so we have no vehicle. We rented a car for a week but don't want to leave a rental at the hotel so Randy arranged for an Uber with Loren and Betsy, some folks we know from church.   

Then on Thursday we learned that our Pet Sitter was not feeling well. She offered to take Shorty anyway and have her sister look after him if she's not able, but I didn't think she needed the extra stress.  I reached out to Donna who patiently listened to my waffling about what to do (Shorty at our home or at hers?) then let us drop Shorty off in the morning, which we did with the help of our neighbor's car.

Since we would not be parking the truck at the hotel as we originally planned, we tried to cancel the week-long parking reservation. However, the hotel refused to cancel it. 

Our Uber friends got us on the road on time although it seemed like their GPS was avoiding highways so the ride took longer than it should. 

When we got to the hotel, the staff still would not cancel our parking; I'd had enough and broke down crying in the lobby. Kind of embarrassing but I couldn't help it. Oh, and my Rosacea broke out from the stress. Peachy.

We checked in and shortly the Snyders and Reddicks arrived, which made everything better. We are all staying on separate floors but it's just for one night. We met up in the lobby and walked out to see the city of Ybor. What we found was that Ybor has a lot of Cigar shops. They advertise with posters of ladies rolling cigars on their thighs; pretty sure that's not how it's really done.

And there are a lot of free-range chickens here. They walk around proudly as is they own the place.

This neighborhood reminded me of New Orleans; the wrought iron railings were festooned with lights, which, during the day, looked similar to Mardi Gras beads.

The sidewalks are made with large octagon pavers. People could buy some to help pay for it so some are marked with peoples' names. But Ybor let folks put whatever they chose, like love appeals or tributes to Batman. 

We decided to have lunch at Bernini's, an Italian restaurant located in an old bank building. 

They served bread with herbed butter and those long thin breads sticks like we had in Venice. Lunch was pretty good - Randy had Fettuccine Bolognese and I had a Chicken Parmesan sandwich. The restaurant name appears to reference Gian Lorenzo Bernini, based on the drawings on the wall and room decorations.  He's the dude who created the amazing "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa", which we saw in Rome. They had other stuff here.

Nearby we could get on the little local train. It's a free ride around the area so why not? The train itself is lovely, all gleaming wood and clear glass. The seat backs were switchable; at the end of the line the conductor walked down the aisle, flipping them so the seats faced front without turning the train around. It was almost empty when we got on but got completely full by the end of the line.

At the end of the line we walked around to see where they were setting up for a festival, looked across the river, then took the train back to the hotel.

Everyone decided to walk out again but after a few blocks I gave up and went back to the hotel; I was exhausted from my emotional day. The group caught the train back to dock to see the lights at night. That would have been pretty but there weren't any lights, so they came back and the guys got a big pizza for dinner. Great decision! By 8pm I was beat and called it a day.