Miami is actually a continuation of our
Puerto Rico trip. Our Puerto Rico package only covered travel to/from Fort Lauderdale, so to get to/from Fort Lauderdale/Miami we flew Southwest.
Day 1
Our 4:15PM flight out of PR got us to FLL at 7PM (no time difference btwn the two). We picked up our rental car and arrived at Miami Beach at 8PM to meet a friend and her roomates for dinner. We went to
Gotham Steak, which was located in the Fontainebleau Hotel and a short walk down the oceanfront boardwalk. Luckily, we happened to be there during
Miami Spice. We both ordered off the Miami Spice Pre Fixe (3 course) Menu. We had the tuna tartare and corn soup for appetizers, grilled skirt steak and braised veal cheeks for entrees, and vanilla cream doughnuts and warm chocolate bread pudding for desserts. We each also had a glass of wine. Summarily, we felt the food was fine but not memorable.
For our 3 nights in Miami we had the pleasure of staying at the place our friend was renting, which was located in Miami Beach right on the beach. It was nothing short of incredible (pictures are below). Thank you for letting us stay! :)
Day 2
Our first stop on our first full day was the
Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. We didn't really know what it was, except that it seemed like a big deal and the name was enough to pique our interest. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it's the largest freshwater pool in the US. Unfortunately, it's probably also the most expensive as it was a whopping $10.50 for an adult day pass. So we just snapped a couple pictures and left.
Also on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark, we also stopped by the
Freedom Tower. During the 1960s, this building was where Cuban immigrants fleeing the communist Castro regime were processed.
We had lunch nearby on Calle Ocho (8th Street), which is the main street that runs through
Little Havana. We went to
Exquisito Restaurant and took a stroll along the street after lunch, stopping for some coco frio.
After lunch we headed back to enjoy our friend's place, driving back through South Beach to admire the Art Deco District.
For dinner, we chose another restaurant participating in Miami Spice:
Casa Casuarina a.k.a. the Versace Mansion. It was both very cool and quite eery eating in Versace's house where he was also shot on the front steps. The mansion has also been converted to a nightclub and hotel, with rooms starting at $1,200/night. I took a picture of the menu so that describes everything we had except the drinks.
As should be expected, Versace lived right where all the action is in South Beach, so after dinner we were able to walk around and enjoy the nightlife. Walking south on Ocean Street brought us to the Clevelander:
Yes, that is a flamenco dancer over the hotel pool. Yes, that is a lady on stilts. And this was when it was only 10PM. Miami is, quite simply, off the hook. It is an older (and less diverse, compared to LA/Vegas) crowd but they really do party 'til 6 in the morning. I have no idea how people hold steady jobs here. Anyway, the rest of our night consisted of similar sights and oysters and champagne at Hotel Ocean, where we also befriended a local businessman.
Day 3Based on a recommendation from our friend, we went to
Tap Tap for lunch on our last full day in Miami. Tap Tap features Haitian food and music, which came up in npr's All Things Considered in the days following the Haitian quake (
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123784163). While there, we met a couple that was visiting from Sarasota, FL and checking out the art museums. We ended up sharing a table with them and got to try some of their food!
As we left lunch the rain started to come down. It quickly turned to a downpour that continued for the duration of our hour long drive to
Everglades National Park. We waited out the rain at the Main Visitor Center (entering through Homestead) where they had an amazing artist's exhibit. We took advantage of a break in the rain to drive to the Royal Palm Visitor Center and do a short (<2 mi) hike to see alligators. Before we even began the trail we got treated to a vulture sighting in the parking lot.
The Everglades are huge and we barely scraped the surface with this visit so we definitely plan to visit again in the future. I will also remember to try and cover any exposed skin as to not get ravaged by mosquitos again. We had to make a pit stop back at where we were staying to clean ourselves up before heading out for dinner with a friend of ours who lives in downtown Miami. We drove to his place, then walked around and surveyed the numerous food choices and ultimately decide on a french bistro called
Provence Grill. We had charcuterie, escargot, and steak tartare. Our friend had short ribs. It was all good. Afterwards, we stopped by an italian market for dessert: coconut flan and cannolis.
Brickell Avenue, the street on which our friend lives, is apparently home to the largest concentration of international banks in the US. We hung out at his place until it was time for all of us to sleep. Here's the view from his balcony, which also overlooked the pool and was accessible from floor-to-ceiling windows:
Day 4
Alas, Sunday had to come. Our flight was at 1:15PM which gave us one more meal. We ended at the same place we started at when this trip began: the
Five Guys in Fort Lauderdale. Now, I had liked this place before Obama made it popular and it wouldn't be until after this trip when I would find out that Five Guys has made it to the West Coast!
We had a short 1 hr 5 min stop in Tampa Bay en route to our 6:30PM arrival in Ontario. I just happened to be looking out the window when we were passing over Houston, which I thought was pretty cool. You can see the Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park, and the downtown buildings - Chevron (ex-Enron), Dynegy, etc!
Cost Breakdown $300.40 - 2 1-stop flights from ONT to FLL on Southwest (we used a free flight award for our flight back)
$118.77 - 1 night at Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport-North (for the night before we left for
Puerto Rico)
$119.59 - 3 day car rental @ FLL from Hertz, with $10/day discount
$123.00 (includes tip as we can't find the itemized receipt) - Dinner at Gotham Steak in Fontainebleau (2 Miami Spice pre fixe meals + 2 glasses of wine)
$113.36 - Dinner at Casa Casuarina (2 Miami Spice pre fixe meals + 2 drinks, 1 of which was $19.62 by itself)
$64.64 - Dinner at Provence Grill (charcuterie, escargots, steak tartare, 2 glasses of wine)
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$862.64
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