A Tampa Vacation: Downtown

I spent the day walking around in Downtown Tampa, FL. There is a walking path along the Hillsborough River including a great stretch of green space at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.  Since I came in winter holiday time the park has a tented public ice skating rink, but that goes away after New Years. I noticed that the waterfront park is family and dog friendly, even has a playground!

The weather was great.  I decided to walk along the river and explore between stopping at various museums in the area.  Across the river I found the Henry B. Plant Park which is a historic park from 1891 which was a part of the Plant Museum.  Not knowing the area or the history of the Plant Museum, I originally thought by its name, like some of you may have as well, that it was going to be some sort of botanical garden.  Turns out it was a hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel built in the Moorish style as a luxurious stop along the Plant system of railways, steamships and hotels and named for Henry B. Plant. Right now a part of the building it has been preserved as museum to show what life was like at the time it was built, the rest of it is part of University of Tampa.

Tampa Bay Hotel now the Plant Museum and University of Tampa

The Henry B. Plant Park has twisting paths and sculptures among some amazing trees.  IT was the garden for the visitors of the Tampa Bay Hotel. While the University was closed for the holidays and students not around at the time, I could imagine it to be not only a great place to sit under a tree and read a book or to get a few friends together and toss a frisbee.

The picture on the right with the squiggly sculpture is part of the park. The sculpture is in the park and the building on the right side is on the other side of the river but from where I stood they looked the same heights. I thought it looked cool so I took a picture.

While walking around in Plant Park I saw some interesting plants that I have yet to identify but I noticed there were roots that were coming out of the stem. Only other time I saw that was on orchids, however they aren't the only plants that have these types of roots called aerial roots.

The picture here is a closeup of some of the details of the Plant Museum. The top part the looks like a weird cone shape is called a cupola, there are 4 on the top of the Plant Museum and they standout in the skyline because of their unique design.

It was lots of fun to explore the downtown area of Tampa, FL, especially the green spaces along the river.  The architecture was also nice to see along the way. There is only so much one can do in a day.  If you live in a city or visiting one take a look at some of the pockets of green space.  Meet Me Outdoors.