Arrived in Tampa shortly after noon and went straight to the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. After lunch (Spanish bean soup and the classic Columbia salad), we strolled 7th Avenue, where I bought a Rooster tie at La France, the best vintage clothing store in Florida. Then we drove across the river for delicious tea at the Oxford Exchange.
In the evening at the Tampa Club – on the top floor of the Bank of America building downtown – talked travel with the accomplished and witty members of the Young Presidents Organization.
Saturday morning Hyde Park Village was full of young couples, some with children, some with dogs, some with both. In a stationery store, eight young women sat hunched over papers in a calligraphy class.
We drove across the river to Ulele for lunch (an original and delicious take on shrimp and grits) and then checked out the new food hall on Franklin Street. Then back across the river to the University of Tampa and the Henry B. Plant museum in the building with the minarets. In one room the words “King of Florida” underscored a portrait of the railroad magnate.
“You’re from the Flagler part of Florida,” the man in the gift shop said after inquiring as to our hometown. “Flagler and Plant were friends. Flagler was a pallbearer at Plant’s funeral. People like to paint them as rivals, but they were friendly rivals.”
We wanted to see the old ballroom but it was being used by campus sororities. Rush week. A sustained buzz emanated from behind the closed doors, conjuring images of evening gowns and military uniforms.
