Miami Beach, Florida
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
So we had a five hour layover in Miami. All I can say is...Yuck, the Miami/Dade airport is gross. It is like a mixture of wandering around in a rickety 70's pinball machine and the mildewy skating rink I cherished as a 6th grader. The newest part of the airport is a slight improvement, at least I can't touch the ceiling, and there aren't strips of stinky starburst (not the candy) decorated carpet. Moving on, I will say they make it very easy to access South Beach. You can take a bus whose driver must have gotten his driving lessons in Mexico, but it was only $2 and took around 20 mins. South Beach...hmmm, maybe it was the plane flight that had me irritable, but, you know when places just don't live up to your expectations? There are some adorable buildings, but there are also some that if you were to remove the oh-so Miami pastels, are very reminiscent of the Communist apartments in Germany, probably Cuba. Duh...Just blocks with row after row of tiny verandas. And the people on this particular day, yikes
! I thought this was the land of the beautiful. I always see them rollerblading along the beach on tv, but the gorgeous must have been hibernating. It wasn't all bad, don't get me wrong, the little canal streets are achingly adorable, I was tempted to hop off the bus and swing on their front porches. The beach itself is beautiful, the water was so many hues of aqua & teal, white white sand. There is also an historic street Espanola (Calle Espanola maybe, yes I know that means street) very narrow and lined with restaurants who go to great lengths to make their patios inviting and lively. Flowers drip from the terraces and light posts, and there are some fantastic looking shops. It was time to head back after a couple of hours, and after having one of the buses fly by us even though we were standing ata bus stop FOR THAT BUS and waving, we caught the next one who was our original horrendous driver, but he was such a nice man. We arrived back with an hour to spare, Jose drank an $11 mojito, I had a $6 beer, and we hopped on the plane headed for La Pura Vida! More to come....
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