Bonjour, Hemingway!

We couldn't visit Key West without a pilgrimage to the Ernest Hemingway's Home!

I am wearing my French fisherman sweater in honor of Papa Hemingway, but also because it happened to be an unusually chilly day for Key West.

Hemingway bought this house in 1931 and lived there for twenty years with his second wife, Pauline, along with their two sons and over 70 cats!  Today they keep 44 cats.  All of them are descendants of the original Hemingway cats and most are double pawed.   This is our tour guide telling us all about how the cats don't have "owners".  They have "staff!"

  And here are just a few of the kitties roaming around the premises:

You're not allowed to pick up Hemingway's cats, but it's okay to pet them!  Meow!

Okay, enough about cats!  Time to show you the interior of Hemingway's Key West Home.  First stop, the bathroom.  Why?  Because I'm crazy about this tile.  Oh, and it's French tile!  Yes, really.  It's made in France.  Oooh, that Hemingway--such good taste!

Oh, and tile in the kitchen too.

I loved the beautiful lighting fixtures too!

Tres elegant, non?

 And very Picasso-influenced too.

Hemingway had four wives.  His first wife was Hadley, recently made famous in the bestselling novel  The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.

He met his second wife, Pauline in Spain.  She was an editor at Vogue Magazine and tres chic.

Don't you just love her scarf and boots?!  When Hemingway was away in Europe, she had this pool built for him:

When he came home she told him the cost ($20,000) and according to legend, Hemingway, took a penny out of his pocket and said, "well, now it's official.  You've taken my last red cent!"

And so, he had to get back to his writing studio...

And hammer out another best seller!  J'adore Hemingway!