From Sea Salt, we walked eastward, toward the water and Beach Drive. As it would turn out, this would just be our first visit to this waterfront roadway—and in fact this proved to be a good opportunity to note the locations of some of the places we hoped to visit later in the week. This first night, we wandered northward up the drive, stopping at a place that had been recommended to one of the other writers: 400 Beach. We sat outside, enjoying the sea breeze after a steamy day, and worked on getting to know other conference goers.
We all ordered something from the sea. I opted for the fish tacos, which were amazing and were served with a mango and papaya salad. This was actually listed as an appetizer, but I can’t imagine eating anything after these two impressively generous tacos. We all agreed that this place was definitely a good suggestion.
Across the street, we could see the Museum of Fine Arts, to which I returned the next night. Impressive collection for a small town, with many familiar names in the galleries of paintings, plus some very nice antiques, artifacts from around the world, sculpture, decorative arts, and an entire room brought from somewhere in Europe.
Farther down on Beach Drive, was the Dali Museum, which I didn’t see on this trip but heard great reports from those who did.
Strolling back toward the hotel, we passed Birchwood, to which we would return in a few nights for the awards banquet. Impressive food there, as well. So if you are in doubt as to what to do in St. Pete, between the museums and the restaurants, not to mention the views of the parks, marina, and bay, it seems that heading for Beach Drive would be a safe bet.
The World's Fare 