MIAMI NICE

Miami means warm weather, money, people with money, Spring Break college kids on holiday, lots of restaurants, wealthy people, party people, myriad bars (for the myriad party people), waterside mansions (for the myriad wealthy people), and art deco architecture (plus, some more art deco architecture).
We flew into Miami with a minor mishap – Milton left his leather jacket in the taxi. After many phone calls to taxi companies and the filing of a police report... nothing happened.

Our hotel was fine, except that our room was on the outside looking over Espanola Way – wall to wall bars and restaurants for the party people to party into the night until 3.00 or 4.00. Anyway, we decided to make the best of it.

If you can get past the Gold Coast, touristy side of Miami Beach, it really is a beautiful place. In 1976, a woman by the name of Barbara Baer Capitman set about arresting the decline of the buildings of Miami Beach and turning the area into a vibrant Art Deco historic district. And she succeeded. Now, I’ve got to ask, didn’t anyone notice anything about the architecture in this place before 1976?! Apparently not.

The guide on the tour I took referred to the style as Resort Art Deco (although the young guide on the Duck Tour - see below - referred to it as Tropical Art Deco) and it really is great. There are many restored apartment blocks and commercial buildings, but especially lots of magnificent restored old Art Deco hotels on the beachfront. This was a real highlight for me.

Miami is of course close to the Everglades and, unlike some national parks where you can go and walk to see the sights , this one is more problematic, as any walking on the high ground could find you face to face with an alligator. So we took a guided tour involving a bus tour via downtown Miami and then an airboat tour of the the Everglades. The airboat looks a bit like a barge with two huge fans up the back and it skims along the water, making a very loud noise. The noise levels are high, however the tour operators have this one covered as they give out toilet paper at the begining and suggest that people stuff it in their ears. Now why hasn't Worksafe thought of that one as a simple solution for hearing protection? OH&S issues aside, we did see several alligators, and lots of birds and water plants.

Another interesting boat ride was the Miami Duck Tour. This amphibious vehicle drives through the streets of Miami Beach, over the bridge and off the road into the water for a sea-going tour of the beachfront houses of the rich and famous. Judith managed to win a plastic "quacker" for knowing the population of Miami (5 million people in Greater Miami).