Moving on to St. Petersburg

This week "Let's Travel" travels to St. Petersburg, Fl for a week in the sun and some interesting sights along the way.

We start off at The Pier, the world-famous St.Petersburg pier where you can see forever on a clear day. Once a jumping-off point for buccaneers and pirates you'll marvel at what it now has to offer the intrepid traveler. Then there's the Sunken Gardens with its sister compound, Great Explorations, a museum for children like no other. After this you're next stop inside the city limits is the new Salvador Dali Museum, a depository of several hundred of the great master's impressionism and futurism works. Our final stop on the other side of the island and sitting at the very bottom of the peninsula on St. Pete's beach is the Don Cesar Hotel, a legendary property that has welcomed guests from near and far, from Hollywood, and Washington, from the Far East, and Europe. This "pink lady" has been favorably restored to its original grandeur dating back to the "roaring twenties."







Where we'll be exploring

---

St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg (often shortened to St. Pete) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The city is known as a vacation destination for North American and European vacationers, as well as a politically important battleground in U.S. Presidential politics. As of 2006, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 248,098. The 2007 Census stated that the population of St. Petersburg increased to 249,079. That information made St. Petersburg the fourth largest city in the state of Florida and the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat. St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, which is composed of roughly 4 million residents in the core, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state.

The city is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to the mainland to the north, connected with the city of Tampa to the east by causeways and bridges across Tampa Bay, and to Bradenton in the south by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (Interstate 275), which traverses the mouth of the bay. It is also served by Interstates 175 and 375, which branch off of 275 into the southern and northern areas of downtown respectively. The Gandy Bridge, conceived by George Gandy and opened in 1924, is the first causeway to be built across Tampa Bay, connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa cities without a circuitous 43-mile (69 km) trip around the Bay through Oldsmar.

For points of interest, the city has a children's museum (Great Explorations), Museum of Fine Arts, a History Museum (which has a full-size replica of the Benoist seaplane and is located near the approximate spot by the St. Petersburg Pier where the first flight took place), a Holocaust Museum, and the Salvador Dalí Museum, which houses the largest collection of Dalí's in the world, including a number of famous and large-scale paintings such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. There are also various other smaller art galleries and entertainment venues, such as: The Midtown Royal Theater, The Arts Center, Florida Craftsmen Gallery, Mahaffey Theater complex, The Coliseum, and Palladium Theatre, especially in the Downtown area, which has seen a boom in development since the mid 1990s.






Guests

---

Jill M. Revelle, Senior Manager, Communications
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay


As a resident and fan of the Tampa Bay area since 1990, I am always impressed of the diversity of experiences available and fun to be had. Whether you live here or are just visiting for the weekend there is truly something for everyone, from family fun to a great date night. The Bay area is home to incredible restaurants, world-famous beaches, nationally ranked attractions and a great sense of history.

As Tampa's No. 1 tourist destination, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay also offers something for everyone, whether you're looking for world-class roller coasters, Broadway-style entertainment, one of the world's largest zoos, or special events and music festivals throughout the year. It's a must-see for any Tampa vacation and the perfect answer to a close-to-home weekend adventure!