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it's probably one of the most overlooked
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places in Florida and I'm going to tell
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you why it shouldn't be and what you can
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I'm Gary beverage of tips for travelers
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I'm in Tampa Florida it's the third
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biggest city in Florida but probably one
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of the most ignored by many tourists
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something I think should change there
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are 11 things that I discovered and saw
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that I think you will also find
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fantastic and interesting my favorite
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thing to do in Tampa is Busch Gardens
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this is an amazing theme park it's
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themed around Africa and it combines
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wild animals and extreme thrill rides so
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there are the most amazing selection of
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animals in the Serengeti plane which you
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can visit by either going on the train
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ride which circles the whole park or
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going on the incredible Serengeti Safari
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where you get to actually get really
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close to the animals and actually hand
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feed the giraffes which is a fantastic
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experience right across the park are a
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whole range of amazing thrill rides and
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roller coasters some of the most popular
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rides include the Cheetah Hunt which is
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a really fast roller coaster there's
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cobras curse where you go in a vertical
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lift face to face with a faing and then
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you spin backwards and forwards as the
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Congo River Rapids there's khumba
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there's also the Stanley Falls flume
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which is a boat ride which has a 40-foot
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drop so whether you're into looking at
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animals or you're a thrill seeker you'll
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be satisfied at Busch Gardens for me the
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second most amazing part of Tampa was
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Ybor City was created by the vision of
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one man the gent a Martinez ebo he
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created what eventually became the cigar
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capital of the world he set up and then
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attracted many other cigar makers
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largely from Cuba to move and set up in
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Ybor City which was originally just a
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swamp at its height in 1927 there was
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over 200 cigar factories there's 10
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blocks which are historic landmark
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district and they are fascinating
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stories don't just go and explore by
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yourself I strongly recommend that you
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go on a walking tour and really
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understand the history and know what
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you're seeing now one of the things you
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must do if you go to Ybor is is head to
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bakery credible bakeries became for over
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100 years it makes the most phenomenal
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Cuban bread Cuban sandwiches pastries
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and cakes now another really important
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thing to do is focus on the water and
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the river Tampa has a beautiful
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waterfront make sure that you actually
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get and explore the river and there's
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three key ways of doing that first of
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all is the parrot water taxi and they
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travel along the Hillsborough River and
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the garrison Channel and it's a great
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way of seeing Tampa and whoever's
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captaining the ship will give you
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commentary now if you're feeling more
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energetic is the Tampa Bay Water bikes
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so you can jump on them and you can
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peddle your way along the river it's
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really good fun really easy to do and
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it's a great way of seeing the river and
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Tampa another great option is the Tampa
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Riverwalk and it starts at the
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Convention Center and you basically now
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walk right along the river either with
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walkways that have been built along the
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river or paths and you can stroll your
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way or cycle away for miles and miles
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and miles now another thing that would
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recommend you go and see is the Henry B
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Plant Museum you can't miss this
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building you'll see it on the rivers
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tour you'll see it when you travel
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around the city the actual building
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itself used to be the Tampa Bay Hotel
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this originally was built as a very
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upmarket hotel resort by Henry B plant
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who built the railroad which stretched
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right across Florida and he built a
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series of hotels to try and attract the
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wealthy most of the building is now
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occupied by the University of Tampa but
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a big part of the ground floor is the
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Henry be plant Museum and inside there
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they have the original artifacts
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original furniture paintings carpets and
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it is a fascinating history of his role
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in putting Tampa on the map so next tip
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is if you're looking for some culture
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and some art whether it is a fantastic
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Museum of Art and it's renowned for not
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only having a great art collection but
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it has a beautiful view of the city from
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the plaza in front of the Museum of Art
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but the museum itself has a fantastic
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collection it has ancient Greek through
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to Rome and it has pop artwork lots of
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traveling exhibitions
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if you're looking for a little bit of
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culture and art is a fantastic Museum I
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I really enjoyed it an enormous amount
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now my next suggestion is zoo Tampa at
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Lowry Park this is a really interesting
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zoo it has a much more diverse range of
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animals then you will see at Busch
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Gardens it's not a particularly huge zoo
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but does have a lot of options a lot of
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choice of things to see the zoo also has
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throughout the day a number of
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interactive things that you can do so
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for example one of the great fun things
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as they had them a cow flyby where they
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had some kids push a button release the
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macaws and they flew all around about
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people's heads and then you could watch
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them being fed and hear about them and
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there's various different experiences
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throughout the day with differe animals
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now my next tip and suggestion is the
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Florida Aquarium this is a very
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well-respected aquarium because not only
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of its exhibitions that it has its
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outreach program but also it focuses on
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conservation in three key areas sharks
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sea coral and sea turtles the credit has
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a great location is right next to some
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of the cruise terminal certificate
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coming on cruise it's a very easy walk
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to basically go and visit the aquarium
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so if you're looking for entertainment
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well there's two things that I would
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strongly recommend you do one of which
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is top Gulf it's a huge driving range
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that has three levels where you hitting
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balls and trying to get them into
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various targets ooh - has great food and
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is a huge amount of fun so if you're
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looking for some entertainment topic of
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is definitely one of them the other is
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the David J Strauss Center for
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Performing Arts this is a huge complex
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there's actually five theaters you might
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find the opera seasons on the orchestra
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song and then they have a whole series
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of big shows that are on tour people
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temperate are extremely passionate about
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sport there's three really important
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teams that I recommend you focus on and
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see if a games on why you're visiting so
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first of all ice hockey they have a
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professional team which is known as a
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Tampa Bay Lightning if you're American
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football the pro team is called the
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers and if you're into
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baseball the team is called the Tampa
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Bay Rays the Tampa food scene is
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extremely dynamic there's lots happening
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there's an incredible restaurant so I
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had mazing range of food now one of the
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things I would recommend that you
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though is make sure that you go and
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visit and eat at these really new
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emerging food halls one of them is
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called armature works it's in this
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beautiful restored building whether you
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know trolleybuses used to be stored the
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other one which I really loved is the
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hall on Franklin going to eat at these
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new food halls is an absolute must to
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and something very exciting with in
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Tampa know what about shopping well
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there's two things I'd suggest you focus
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on the first is a place called Hyde Park
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Village there's also two fantastic
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things to do there's the sprinkles
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cupcake shop and what they have is a
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cupcake ATM just down the road from that
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is goodie goodie burgers this is a
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famous chain which it disappeared and
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has been resurrected a few years ago and
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it recreates the whole goodie goodie
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concept in terms of the look even some
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of the furnitures the same many of the
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recipes are the same but it was a tamp
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institution and it's been brought back
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if you're looking for more of a mall
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type shopping activity I suggest you go
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to the International Plaza and Bay
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Street this is a huge sprawling more
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with lots of shops and there's so much
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to see and do in Tampa hopefully I've
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shown you through these 11 things that I
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found fascinating and really great fun
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that it's definitely a place that you
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should consider if you're heading to
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Florida either as a destination in its
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own right or as part of a bigger trip I
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