Visiting The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

Imagine a woman with a shoe for a hat. Pretty funny right? Now imagine that woman on a Segway. Wait… lets take it one step further. Imagine a woman with a shoe for a hat, on a segway, doing a dance! That’s what my afternoon looked like after a tour of The Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s one of those priceless travel moments that will remain in my memory bank forever.

Janice with her Dali shoe hats at The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

I’m not usually much of a museum person. I enjoy going to them, but I’m usually in and out pretty quickly. So I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed our guided tour of The Dali Museum.

What made the tour so brilliant was our docent, Janice. I’m not quite sure how to find the words to describe Janice…all I can come up with are the words wacky, eccentric, unforgettable. Wearing a shoe hat on her head and a multi-coloured cardigan that made her look like Big Bird, Janice was passionate about all things Dali.

Janice was keen to show us her collection of Dali shoe hats, my favourite of which was the blue suede shoe. She even let us try them on and strike a pose!

Dali Shoe Hats

Had I not taken a guided tour of the Dali Museum, I wouldn’t have really understood the meaning of the paintings. But Dali’s masterpieces are downright mind-blowing when someone explains it to you.

Janice showed us the paintings within the paintings, and I was genuinely fascinated by what she had to say.

Dali - The Disintegration of Persistence of Memory

Plus I got to see Dali’s most famous piece- The Persistance of Memory. I instantly recognised those melting clocks from when I studied Art A-Level back in school.

After the tour we enjoyed a glass of bubbly in the café, and I had a quick walk around the gardens outside. I was intrigued by a tree covered in thousands of pieces of colourful paper that were blowing in the breeze. This is the Dali wish tree or ‘Tree of Wishes’ and it is customary to write a wish on your entry wristband and tie it to the tree. If you stop to read them, some wishes are light-hearted, while others are particularly heart wrenching.

Dali Wish Tree

Following the Dali Museum we were due to go on a Segway tour of St. Petersburg, and since we couldn’t bear to part with Janice, we invited her along. The moments that ensued were unforgettable.

Our guide David Boston of Gyroglides looked bewildered:

“Does she know she has a shoe on her head?”

Segway Tour St. Petersburg

Refusing to swap the shoe hat for a helmet, Janice wore her shoe hat on the segway, and she even did a dance. The passers-by looked even more bewildered. One word to sum up the whole day: Surreal. Just like Dali’s paintings.

My Florida trip was with Visit Florida and Virgin holidays. All opinions are my own. For more information about St.Pete/Clearwater, visit their Facebook Page and their website.

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5 thoughts on “Visiting The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg”

  1. Victoriaa,
    I had so much fun! Thanks for posting a permanent memory of a perfectly delightful surreal day.
    I hope others will join my Dali tour at 5:30 on Thursday right after admission is half price at 5:00 or on the weekends for a private tour. I know where the Segways are too!

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