You bet I made the train trip like I said. It was also a tough call which of the 26 pictures to feature. This is the street south of the West Palm Beach library which is open on Sunday. I came in under budget (max $10) by taking along my own coffee and sandwiches, but folks, otherwise the entire day ran me around $3.50 including the $2.00 round trip train ticket.
Almost all the trains accommodate bicycles, but get here first. There is a small crowd of professional train-bike riders who use the system as a means of entertainment and for Bible discussions with unwilling but initially polite strangers. Nor do they obey the 2-bike rule. My unit was knocked over twice, so choose a seat nearby so you can watch over things. Plus somebody stole my orange safety vest from under my nose.This is a picture of the Sloan ice cream parlor where a single scoop is priced at $4.50. I passed. You’ll want the non-tourist details and I’m glad to oblige. First of all, I did not go to Mangonia, or whatever place I mentioned last day. I took one look at the neighborhood and decided to double back to West Palm Beach. Mangonia is one nasty looking town. I can ride my bike fast but not faster than a speeding bullet.
Which found me back in an area I was in once before, but I had walked south instead of biking east. I followed the crowd this time into a sort of okay downtown area. They had the improv theatre, the yuppie bars that didn’t open until 4:30 and a street level fountain for kids to play in. Or ride bikes through. Of course everybody including JP decided to call me while I was halfway up the coast. How do they know?
With a bike, you get around best. I rode up and down every street and avenue in the downtown area and went back to the better spots. I saw the prettiest gal in town but so did everybody else. Love those black mini-skirts but I could not catch her eye. That’s another thing West Palm has that we don’t – good looking single women. Nor does it have the third world feel of South Florida. People leave their convertible tops down and let their kids go play in the parks. No panhandlers. Most businesses were closed.Here is a picture I call the Pagoda. It resembles the entrance to a Chinese restaurant, but if you look close, it has the name Steel Fab. They are building a new civic center (what the hell is a civic center anyway?) and this is the frame of the doorway, standing around fifty feet high. It is a chance photo, the frame will be covered when construction is complete.
I was able to stop for a snooze on a park bench in the sun. This is the time of perfect weather, around 78 degrees with a slight breeze. The bicycle is a tourist must-have, for like all Florida cities, there is never enough [car] parking. The have their Starbuck’s full of posers and many small but expensive shops. Much of the area is condos, yet there is no evidence of high population density. They just go inside and shiver in front of the A/C, I guess, like a Canadian on holidays in Waikiki.
There is a nice waterfront. Like most, one look is enough. The real treat was the library. It also has a different atmosphere than the local hang-out joint and was full of well-dressed people. No kids running screaming in foreign languages in the aisles. No cell phones seen or heard. At the front they have bookstands similar to a bookstore, a kind of neat idea. As you walk in they have the newest and most popular books right there. It is divided by categories such as, “Afro-American Non-Fiction”. Okay.
Rate the day an outstanding mini-break. It takes a full hour to get there so it won’t be a regular trip. I would like to see Del Ray and Boca Raton. These are places too far to drive for a casual look but now we have an alternative. I was the only “tourist” with a packed lunch and a thermos, but I got many envious glances from people who had just been soaked mightily, like the family who just blew $27 on ice cream cones. I would have shared but all the single women who looked my way already seemed rather well-fed.
I’d go see it again with a friend, but otherwise it is done and also, it was not a good place to meet people. Every group kept pretty much to themselves. It is nice but it is still very much Florida so don’t go hoping the next flight in. Florida hotel rooms are priced “in the low hundreds”. I also took along reading material, so long waits were turned to my advantage, as was the train ride home after dark.
Remember Will from Jimbo’s, the guy nobody gets along with? I get along with him fine, and it turns out he knows how to play guitar. Nice of him to wait six months before mentioning anything. It also took that long to get a compliment out of him. He did not understand the difference between lead and rhythm and now he’s said he’ll give it a try. Good, I have all the material he needs and nothing I play is complicated. I also talked to Rocker Reade and he’ll bring a small drum kit in this Friday.
