Florida Road Trip 8: Miami and South Beach

We kept driving on Tuesday 26 February 2008 from the Dolphin Research Center through Miami to South Beach where we were booked at the Royal Palm. On the way through Miami, the radio was full of comments about major power station shutdowns, leaving half of Florida without power and many schools in lock down mode as they didn't want parents driving through streets without traffic lights to pick up their children. There was also a tornado warning which was a bit concerning given the big storm we could see as we drove past the airport!

However all came to nothing with South Beach having power and missing all storms on the way through. We arrived late in the afternoon so after checking in we wandered up to Lincoln Mall to have an early dinner. We had an enjoyable Italian dinner sitting outside in the Mall, watching the passing parade enjoying the warm weather. The South Beach population either is some of the best looking and over proportioned people in the States or cosmetic surgeons are doing quite well here. The feeling wasn't as laid back as Key West and a bit more artificial, making us wish we had planned at least an extra night in Key West.

Kieren also put on a bit of a performance for us after dinner, running through his repertoire: http://picasaweb.google.com/malcolmdonna/TheManyFacesOfKieren.

The main reason for choosing to stop in South Beach was the art deco and related architecture. So on Wednesday 27 February 2008 we rugged up (comparatively to the rest of the trip) and headed out. We started with breakfast at Jerry's Famous Deli (although we didn't realise it was a 2002 import to South Beach, previously being Hoffman's Cafeteria). This is housed in a Henry Hohauser masterpiece from 1940 which has been described as being 'reminiscent of the bow of a tugboat cutting through the waves. The nautical imagery continues with a central smokestack, flagpoles and terrific cutout portholes on the parapet. The wide, curving canopy at the entry smoothly rounds the corner. On the sides, long eyebrows and incised speed bands pick up the motion, stretching the wings out in either direction.'

We then walked down to the Art Deco Welcome Center to hire their iPod self guided audio tour. This took us around the architectural highlights of the Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue area in a bit over an hour. We pushed it a bit as keeping the kids onside was a tough side job. We tried to add a couple of stops at a playground but a crazy occupying a park bench next to the equipment was doing a good job of scaring everyone away. Really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about art deco.

We visited the beach and pool later in the afternoon and had a dip in the pool despite it being fairly cool. Ended the day with a similar wander up Lincoln Mall, dinner at another Italian restaurant and the regulatory souvenir shopping.

Malcolm