We were docked on the starboard side overnight. We had a river view of the bridge. It was cold, in the 40s F again overnight, but clear and sunny with a predicted high of 66 F. So, nearly perfect weather for a day out.
We had a last breakfast early and vacated the cabin by 8 am. We vacated the ship by 9 am. We walked down the riverfront about a half block to the Hyatt Regency in front of the ship. We could see the riverfront walks on both sides of the St. Johns River, as well as the Peace Park and Jacksonville Landing. We had thought we'd spend at those but we were wrong. We dropped the luggage at the Hyatt with no questions. We set off for Sweet Pete's. We walked down the river front under the bridge watching the dolphins who live there. We found the Landing to be all restaurants. We got to Sweet Pete's right before 10 am opening to find paper signs taped to the doors, closed for renovations.
The Museum of Contemporary Art did not open til 11 am. We killed time at Hemming Park and the library with a few hundred homeless people. Downtown was dead on a Saturday morning. We found little open. As we bought our art museum tickets, we were told there was to be an artist guided tour and to just follow the group leaving. We had all day to kill, so we did. It was an interesting and easy hour spent with Gideon Mendel. A pleasant surprise. We spent some more time in the rest of the galleries then headed out. We asked the woman who'd steered us to the tour for a lunch suggestion. She gave us 3 within a few blocks and recommended MOSH when she learned we had the day to fill. We walked by each of her lunch suggestions and picked Burrito Gallery. We easily spent another hour there by eating too much. We had walked by Mocha Misk'i earlier and returned for dessert. We had a custom made brownie sushi. Lastly, we walked down to the drawbride to MOSH. It was geared to children and a nightmare. But we'd paid and reserved 5 pm planetarium tickets so we stayed. Plus our train doesn't leave til 11 pm! We crossed back over the bridge as the sun was setting. We were still too full from lunch, so went directly to the Hyatt. Pandemonium! Evidently the Steelers are staying here as well as all their fans. We just took seats in the lobby and enjoyed the team spirit.
We reclaimed our luggage and I typed this up. We should head to the train station wthi an hour.
