(click on pictures to enlarge)
Monday 3rd December 2012
My hotel room was spacious and the bathroom made me smile every time I went in there, as the largest mirror was surrounded by large clear glass light bulbs. Talk about the film-star treatment!
After all that I went out for breakfast just along the road, this time with one of my travelling companions.
We went back to the Art Deco shop again to look at the lovely things, and then strolled north and found a Diner in an old railway carriage, which had been built elsewhere, transferred to Miami Beach and re-done, and then installed here in 2002. It was well located on a corner of 11th Street so caught the eye of many passers-by and was an interesting place for a cold drink.
We strolled up to Lincoln Mall to pay a visit to the Apple store, which was packed with people, and on a little further to a Store exhibition featuring the Pop Artist Romero Britto. Born in Brazil in 1963, he now lives and exhibits in Miami and is a prolific artist and charity benefactor. His work is very bright and eye-catching, and such is his popularity that Romero was selected to serve as the Ambassador to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
We decided to take the local bus down towards Government Cut, to see if the cruise ships could be seen, but there was a marina and boats in the way, and lots of new tall buildings going up, so we had another 25 cents worth of bus ride back up to the Diner for lunch.
My other friend arrived later so our little party was now complete and ready for CELEBRITY REFLECTION on Wednesday, but first we had an eagerly awaited evening engagement. Two of our friends who each live in different locations outside Miami made the journey into the city specially to have dinner with us, and we were very pleased to be able to spend time together talking about ships. That evening at the Cardozo Restaurant was a very happy and chatty occasion (thanks Larry and thanks Rich).
No ships seen today.
Tuesday 4th December 2012
Today is our final complete day in Miami’s Ocean Drive, so we all met up to go out for breakfast (and succumbed to one of the nearby restaurant touts!).
We had an appointment at the Wolfsonian, which is between 10th and 11th, so enjoyed our walk there. We were taken through security and then up in the lift to a room which made our ship-loving hearts beat a little faster, as we noticed boxes and boxes labelled with the names of shipping lines! The Union-Castle Line boxes were already laid out for me, but I also chose the Blue Star Line box. My friends chose Cunard and Carnival boxes and we all enjoyed looking at all of the contents.
We saw lots of FESTIVALE (ex TRANSVAAL CASTLE) brochures, and HOLIDAY, both from way back when as they say. We remembered that Rich T. worked for Carnival in the 1980s and was full of information which he was kind enough to share with us last night. We were introduced to another member of staff, and met a friend from New York who was visiting Miami and the Wolfsonian. We went out for lunch at a local Cuban Restaurant, and then had to bid au revoir and thanks to Larry for such an interesting morning.
We three walked up Washington Avenue towards Lincoln Avenue Mall and I’m sure it was not by chance that some people’s footsteps led us into the Apple Store. Coffee and cake had to be tried nearby and then we caught a bus down towards our hotel. It was crowded and when a man with a large suitcase got on the bus we all tried to make room. That was fine until the man pulled the suitcase too far into the crush and managed to hit the injured and bandaged foot of a man sitting near me. He was not happy.
The sun had long since disappeared and rain threatened but held off as we relaxed beside the pool, with the palm trees rustling in the strong breeze. Later we went out for dinner on our last night in Miami, ready to pack and prepare for our cruise on CELEBRITY REFLECTION tomorrow. I will be doing the 3 night inaugural trip, and am really looking forward to it, and also to taking more photographs as we sail out of the Port of Miami – following in Father’s footsteps.
Ship not seen but known to be in port is Regatta, on the south side of Dodge Island.
To be continued…
