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South Beach, Miami

1-23-11
 
As instructed by the Coconut Grove trolley driver, we took the trolley to the metro station, where we purchased $5.00 day passes, which allowed us access to any city bus or metro for the whole day. We got on the metro headed toward downtown Miami and disembarked at Earlington Heights where we boarded the Airport Express bus #150 which took us to South Beach. (Piece of cake, when someone tells you exactly what to do and you don’t have to laboriously figure it out yourself.)
 
While we were traveling on the bus to South Beach, we talked to a couple from Indianapolis. They had been to South Beach before and were going there again today. They told us where we should get off the bus and a little about the area. We got off the bus at Lincoln Square and perused the overly crowded closed-off street presenting a plethora of shops, restaurants, bars, street venders and interesting people. An occasional fountain, in the middle of the boulevard, enhanced the area. If a person loves to shop and meander various boutiques, this would be a haven of enjoyment. As for us, we decided to head toward South Beach and see if it offered more to our liking than what Lincoln Square presented.

 

Jean at South Beach, Miami

South Beach impressed us as much as Lincoln Square.  Hotels, condos and townhouses line South Beach, providing accommodations for the numerous interesting people visiting there.  We prefer more quiet beaches, where the main attraction is the sun, sand and ocean, not the “interesting people”.

We were glad we went there to see it, but is it the kind of place we really enjoy? No. We rather enjoy more laid-back atmospheres offering a more relaxed pace. We’ll leave the partying places to the partying crowd who enjoy the hustle and bustle of that kind of lifestyle. (My goodness, we are showing our age.) After checking out the cost of parasailing, which we intend to do someday, we headed back to a bus stop to go back to Coconut Grove. We managed the excursion precisely as instructed and were proud of ourselves in doing so.

Gary watching the playoff games at Fat Tuesday sport's bar, Coconut Grove

We went to the sport’s bar we found yesterday in Coco Walk, and watched the first playoff game between Chicago and Green Bay. Then we went next door to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The table next to us accommodated a girl’s sailing team from Australia. It was interesting to hear their chatter regarding their day’s events. After dinner, we returned to the sport’s bar to watch the first half of the second playoff game between the NY Jets and the Steelers, before walking back to the marina.

Decorative peacocks adorned Coconut Grove

Another decorative peacock at Coconut Grove

While walking back to the marina we went by Peacock Park. We don’t know if “Peacock” is someone’s last name or why the park has it’s name. Apparently, there is some significance tied to peacocks and the district because we noticed colorful peacock statues, painted by various artists, located all around Coconut Grove. No street lights around Peacock Park made it a little challenging to see, but we felt fairly confident we were safe. While at Coco Walk, I noticed many young children running around, so I presumed the area must be pretty safe after dark. However, we wished we had brought a flashlight with us. We safely made it back to the marina’s dinghy dock, with another reminder to think ahead when leaving the boat for the day.

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