South Beach, Florida and off to the Panama Canal
We are off on another trip. We left the snow and cold in Rochester on January 4th and headed to Miami where we stayed two nights in South Beach. then headed out on a cruise though the Panama Canal. Our trip will end in 2 weeks in Lima Peru.
The last time I was in Miami Beach for a vacation I was about 7 years old so things have changed a lot so I looked forward to spending a little time in the area.. Our flight sat on the runway for over an hour waiting for a gate so we arrived at the hotel after 8 PM and didn’t have much time for any site seeing that night. We had not eaten all day so we were quite hungry and found a nice outdoor restaurant called Salt, just a few steps from our hotel. We enjoyed dinner and then just headed back to the hotel. It was a long day.
Our hotel was just across the street from the beach and the weather was perfect so we spent a good part of the next day relaxing on the beach and taking a walk on the sand.
After a quick change from our beach clothes we took a walk along the main road and enjoyed the sites. Surprisingly, neither the beach nor the streets were crowded on this beautiful day We stopped at a small park with some interesting trees and a museum which was unfortunately not open on Mondays. The Art Deco architecture of the museum and many of the buildings nearby are beautiful and there were enough older buildings to give one a sense of what South Beach looked like back in the 1950’s before the high rose hotels replaced many of the older Art Deco buildings.
We found an excellent restaurant for dinner called Orange Blossom. The food was outstanding, beautifully prepared, the prices were excellent and even better many of the menu items were reduced for happy hour.
After dinner we took a leaisurely walk back to the hotel and stopped for ice cream at a shop right near the hotel
In the morning we stopped at a coffee shop down stairs from our hotel called Joe & the Juide. The coffee was great, and the pastries tasty. The shop had fresh fruit piled behind the counter which they use to make some of the many juice items on the menu. The coffee shop is part of a chain that prides itself on sustainability.
With breakfast over it was time to pack up and get ready to head to the cruise port for the start of our cruise. Travel to the port was easy as was check in and we were onboard just a few minutes after arriving at the port. We promised ourselves we wouldn’t over do it with eating on this trip. We will see how that goes. We did pretty well at dinner where we enjoyed salad and steak, then ended the dinner with sorbet which was delish - passion fruit, raspberry and lemon.
We have a large cabin at the front of the ship with a forward facing balcony which will be perfect for viewing as we pass through the Panama Canal. This is a view of Miami from out cabin as we got ready to sail away.
The first evening entertainment on board was a brief introduction to the different performers. Some were excellent and others, so-so. One group called Music4Soul was on out Norway cruise. They were excellent so we are looking forward to enjoying them over the next 2 weeks. One of the limitations of being on a small ship, this one holds 650 passengers vs the mega ships which hold up to 6,000, is the limited entertainment. There will be enough variety however that it should be enjoyable.
Tomorrow is a sea day so we will pretty much just relax and enjoy the ship.