Miami

Due to a series of mess-ups with the taxi company, between collecting our baggage and waiting for our taxi we were hanging around the station for about two hours. It took about 40minutes to reach Miami’s South Beach, passing first through slightly ramshackle looking suburbs and then the imposing skyline of Miami’s down town. Finally we crossed the bridge to south beach, which is across the water from Miami’s cruise port

We had booked a night at the Beacon hotel, one of the art deco style hotels South Beach is known for. The hotel’s name is illuminated in neon and a live Jazz set was being performed on the porch. The room was fairly spacious and well appointed, but still felt small after our suite at Disney, leaving us a little apprehensive as to how we would do in the smaller cruise ship state room. Quickly though we were heading out to walk along ocean drive and see more of the art deco architecture it is know for.

Ocean Drive on a Saturday night is a loud party scene; live jazz and loud, bass-y DJ sets blare from various bars merging with the growl of Americian muscle cars crawling along in the traffic. Each venue’s music is distinct only as you pass directly by, blending into the bewildering cacophony of sound. The tourists out to see the buildings were juxtaposed oddly against bar patrons in their club/dance attire.

Back in the room the noise from our ocean facing window was considerable, so we watched an episode of Picard until we felt sleepy enough that the noise no longer mattered (and as a bonus we were now only one episode behind).Read more