Internet on the ship was very expensive so that I thought I would work on my blog off line but most of my pictures were on my iPhone so that was a bit trickier than I imagineplus with offshore excursions etc. I was very busy! Miami was way to frantic to blog there and in the end this blog is finally getting finished back in Vancouver!
I arrived at Miami airport around 9:15 pm Thursday,February 13th and about an hour or so later was at our hotel near the airport, not easy spotting the right hotel shuttle! I was meeting my good friends, the Benoits, from Montreal-Linda and Carol and their amazingly energetic 87 year old mom, Lorraine.
After a good breakfast and a bit of organizing, we took a taxi to catch an on off bus tour that for us began in the Cuban section of Miami. As we made our way to Bayside it helped orient ourselves to Miami. The weather was perfect!
I was out of Vancouver's rain and the Benoits were out of the snow.
We had all been to Florida but not to Miami and we were impressed!
When we got to Bayside we transferred into the Island Princess boat and the pictures above are actually from our cruising around Miami's islands-some even more exclusive and expensive than others! And then there are the yachts such as the one above!
The picture above is our tour boat
Here are my travelling companions
So Miami above
After the boat cruise we got on the Blue line section so we could explore Miami Beach beginning with famous South Beach and above you see an example of the Art Deco architecture.
Florida was discovered long ago by the Spanish but no one was too interested in the Miami area as it was hot and swampy, but that eventually did change, of course!
And northerners started seeking escape from winter
And you can see here the hotels where they flocked
And which have been restored and updated! We really enjoyed our drive through Miami Beach. Here are a few more neat buildings
Having gotten quite a good look at Miami beach we headed back to hopefully catch the last bus that would take us to Coconut Grove and closer to our hotel near the airport. Otherwise we would take a taxi back all the way. We made the bus but later we were not sure it was entirely a good thing. We initially enjoyed driving through this lovely neighbourhood until we became hopelessly stuck in a traffic jam. What should have taken 25 minutes took an hour and a half. At that point we decided to get out earlier and get a taxi back to our hotel. Getting a taxi took us another hour I think. The combination of it being Friday afternoon, Valentine's Day and the beginning of an arts festival seemed to be a fatal combination. We all would enjoy a visit to Coconut Grove when we had more time to enjoy being there! Here are a few photos!
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