Our second day in Miami and we were kindly taken on a tour of Miami by friend and gracious host, Rodney. We visited some hot spots outside of where we are at South Beach, including Fort Lauderdale and Little Havana where we stopped in at an authentic and highly regarded Cuban restaurant called Versailles.
The food was fantastic, massive servings and we tried traditional Cuban foods including a delish Leche Flan and Cuban coffee that was to die for.
Leche flan (similar to Creme Caramel) and a Cuban coffee.
Bellies full of Cuban food, Rodney then drove us to a few bars about Miami - what goes on tour stays on tour! Let's just say they had more Go-Go than early Wham....!
Awesome bartender Richie. If that was his real name...
The next day, you know you've had a big night when you wake up at 12:30pm (a first for me) and you're still drunk (another first for me). A quick lunch on Ocean Drive to soak up the alcohol and giant goblets of diet coke start to make things feel better (sober):
Self photo, massive diet cokes.
Entree we share a crab soup. Was beautiful!
Terry has ham sandwiches, with pickles mustard and some fries.
I have seafood linguini with white wine & garlic. "Tres bloody bein indeed!" - I scream at the waitress.
At this point I'm feeling somewhat better, but incapable of functioning at any higher levels. A hangover should not be served with intense hot weather so while Terry is feeling fine and skips off to the beach, I opt to sluggishly walk to the movie theatre to see (another) movie, thinking that darkness and air conditioning will make things all better. I decide to see The Green Lantern (*** 3 stars) and am happy with my hangover remedy until I release that the movie is in 3D. Bugger. But with the help of my 30 gallon movie diet coke (it seemed massive, AND I'd only bought a medium size!) I got my way through to the end of the movie.
I head back to the hotel where we decide to eat at the hotel restaurant. Big mistake. The food was completely tasteless, not one single part of either of our meals tasted like anything. The chef should receive world fame and a big award for managing the amazing feat of sucking the life out of the food he serves. Enough said, we won't eat at the hotel ever again.
The next day we hit the beach and the water is amazingly warm. Almost too warm when you're looking forward to being cooled down after the Miami sun has beaten down on you. You pay 10 bucks (each) for beach loungers (seems steep to me, but they are worth it) and there's little huts with ice creams and cold drinks. We came to the beach during the week and it was somewhat busy, but of course on weekends it's absolutely packed full of people!
Infamous Miami Beach!
After our swim we head back to the hotel, shower and change, and then get a cab into Miami to Sun Stadium to watch the Miami Marlins Baseball team play against the Houston Astros!
"Take me out to the ball game..."
It was a fantastic experience going to see a real baseball game and while we only understood the basics, it was really enjoyable and interesting to follow. Everyone was was frying in their seats due to the heat and we managed to last only until the end of the 5th inning (out of 9).
The game! The Miami Marlins won - yay!
We left Sun Stadium to head back to our hotel, have a refreshing cool swim in the hotel pool and joined the locals for the hotel's Sunday pool party. Unfortunately the pool party was actually quite shit and it ended after two hours. Literally everyone had disappeared! Having just drank a fishbowl cocktail (yep, exactly as it sounds, a massive cocktail that's served in a fishbowl) and still nursing some of the hangover from the day before, I threw up the white flag and had to head to bed
The next day (Monday, our 2nd last day in Miami) and we decide to hit the beach again (water even warmer than the day before), have lunch at The Carlyle, which is the Miami hotel that was in the movie The Birdcage!!
The Carlyle Hotel, aka the hotel from The Birdcage
Me (left) and Terry (right) ordering from the menu at The Carlyle
After lunch (Terry a roast beef 'sandwich' and me a seafood soup) we decide to get all Arrested Development and hire Segways to motor around Miami! They are amazing to use and a really fantastic way to scoot around town and visit stuff. Gob Bluth had it right with this baby!
Us on our Segways! Top fun :)
Just off to dinner now so will catch you all another time in another location (San Francisco!!).
MB
Thank you for this! Me and my husband are looking at rental homes in Miami, FL for our vacation. It looks like such a fantastic place to visit. That Cuban coffee and flan looks amazing! Hopefully, I can sneak away for a minute and go say hi to Richie! haha Thanks for sharing.
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