Yes, that's right. After 4 1/2 months on the rock, fed up of browsing the designer watch retailers and souvenier shops for things we neither need nor can afford and in need of some more summer clothes, we decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and book tickets for the obligatory shopping trip to Miami which seems to be a monthly pilgrimage for most islanders.
Bonnie was sent to the bank to get some dollars for the trip, and returned with a worryingly large wad of cash and the promise that it was all for essentials that we can't get on island.
So, armed with our passports, dollars, 2 empty suitcases and not much else we headed straight from work on Thursday night to catch the evening Cayman Airways flight to MIA. Like all well trained travellers, we turned up at the airport in good time for the flight, to find that we were the only people in the departure lounge. Clearly we are still not yet living on Island time, because everyone else seemed to turn up about 15 mins before the flight was due to board - one advantage of having an airport that is not much larger than a typical garden shed is that it does not take very long to clear security and immigration. Needless to say, we've learned our lesson for next time!
The flight itself was very quick, and even though we had to steer around a very impressive looking storm somewhere over Cuba we were still on the ground in Miaim an hour later. In fact, it took us nearly as long to get through Miami airport as the flight itself lasted. Once we had finally cleared immigration and customs we were greeted by Bonnie' friend G who was waiting to take us back to Delray Beach, where we would be staying for the next 3 nights.
We were whisked off up the I95 in Ruby the red convertible VW Beetle, away from the bright city lights of Miami itself and found ourselves in the cute little seaside "village" of Delray Beach. We arrived just in time for a late dinner, and were able to wander down from G's beautiful townhouse on the edge of town and into the heart of downtown Delray. We had been promised dinner at a biker bar right by the rail road tracks, which apparently offered fantastic burgers and Delray's best (and probably only) Elvis impersonator. Unfortunately the kitchen had just closed when we got there, so we had to settle for the Park Tavern (www.parktaverndelray.com) instead, which was a good compromise with great burgers and an even better selection of craft beers. Yum!
Fortified by beers and burgers, we were ready to start our weekend of shopping!
On Friday morning we explored downtown Delray. First stop was breakfast. G had recommended a cafe called the Green Owl to us, but as August/September are actually the low season on the south Florida coast it was shut. Instead we found a fantastic little cafe, and stocked up on yogurt with granola, smoothies and coffee.
Refreshed by breakfast, we walked all the way down Atlantic Avenue until we reached the sea. After dipping our toes in the Atlantic and taking a short walk along the beautiful white sand we turned back to head into town again, only to find that our way was blocked by a huge python which was slithering across the path. One of the locals who had stopped to watch told us that people often bought them as pets, but once they grew too big to look after they would release them into the wild. It was still a bit of a shock to see something that big so close to civilisation. Still, at least it wasn't an Aligator...
The pace of life is pretty relaxed in southern Florida, and although it was 10am by this point, the shops were only just starting to open up. On our way down Barny had spotted someone wearing an amazing pair of shorts (let's put it this way, if someone took all of Barny's loudest shirts, mixed them together and then turned them into shorts, that would be approaching what we saw...), and on our way back up Atlantc Avenue we saw a similar pair hanging in the window of a small shop called "The Trouser Shop". Driven by his penchant for all things sartorial, Barny decided he had to try them on, and dragged Bonnie into what turned out to be an Aladdin's cave for all things trouser. In the end Barny settled for a more sober pair of pink striped seersucker shorts, which the shop kindly tailored for him so they fit perfectly, but will be back next time to get the psychadellic striped shorts and matching golf trousers...
G returned to check on us during her lunch break and kindly agreed to deposit us at one of the local shopping centers on her way back to the office so we could do some discount shopping at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. Sometimes you just can't beat a good rummage through the racks...
Exhausted by a day of shopping we retired in front of the TV with pizza (so rock and roll...!).
On Saturday we forewent serious shopping and instead took the opportunity to catch up with some of G's family who live nearby and who Bonnie hadn't seen for several years. Barny took command of the barbie (with some help from G) while Bonnie renewed old friendships. In the evening we took leave of Delray and headed down the road to Fort Lauderdale for a few drinks and dinner. Fort Lauderdale is the yachting capital of the US, and Barny was suitably impressed with the array of luxury yachts both big and small lining the marinas!
We had reserved Sunday as our main shopping day (sacrelidge, I hear you cry!) and were originally planning on visiting Sawgrass Mills (www.simon.com/mall/?id=1262), but as we didn't really need any armani slippers or Burberry pants we decided that it was probably better to stick with the local mall where everything we wanted (i.e. Gap, Macys etc) was close at hand. For someone who professes that she doesn't like to shop, Bonnie certainly did very well and (as someone who does like shopping) Barny was suitably impressed with her efforts!
Because it was such a sunny afternoon and we didn't want to waste it, we decided to stop off for a round of crazy golf on the way home. There are good reasons why neither of us play golf, which Barny proved on the third hole when he decided that rather than go round the obstacle he would try hitting the ball straight over it, only to hit our host with the ball. Bonnie went one step further by completely avoiding the hazard and chipping her ball onto the green for the next hole, right into the middle of another game. Still, it was great fun (and as a bonus you could order beers delivered right to the tee on each hole, which given the above is probably a dangerous idea...)
Monday was a working day for everyone else, but we were dropped by our host at the Tri-Rail station on her way in to work so we could catch the train down into Miami. Although most US cities are dominated by the car, Miami actually has a pretty good public transport system. The Tri-Rail (http://www.tri-rail.com) is a commuter train which runs up the Florida coast, connecting string of residential areas between Miami and Palm Beach with the airport and the Miami metro system, so you can get right in to downtown. Although it was not particularly quick, it was certainly pretty easy, and once in downtown Miami it links to a monorail system that follows a regular loop between the centre, the business district and the waterfront (and it's free!).
As we only had one day in Miami (and as we figured it was probably going to be the first visit of many), we decided to head down to the Bayside Market Place shopping center and hop onto one of the open top tourist buses run by the Big Bus Company (http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/miami/custompage.aspx?id=miami_sightseeing_tour&gclid=). Ok, yes, it's a bit cheesy, but it is a great way to see the city quickly.
First of all we headed out to the south west to see Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and Little Havanna. Bonnie was very taken by the Biltmore Hotel (http://www.biltmorehotel.com/), a beautiful luxury hotel in the heart of Coral Gables built in the 1920's when Miami was a fledgling city and a holiday retreat for rich New Yorkers looking for warm sunshine and clean air. Barny was more impressed with the cigar factories in Little Havanna, such as the El Credito cigar shop, one of Miami's oldest, where you can watch the cigars being hand rolled. Apparently they are as good (if not better) than most Cubans (but unlike Cuban Cigars are not prohibited under the US embargo, so can be freely traded in the US).
Once we had explored the city side, it was time to swap skyscrapers and shops for the beaches, bars and wonderful architecture of South Beach. South Beach is the picture postcard image of Miami. It has the long sweeping beaches of pure white sand, dotted with colourful lifeguard stations, which are overlooked by the fabulous art deco buildings of Ocean Drive which house hotels, restaurants and bars teaming with locals and tourists alike. Although we didn't get to have an evening out on the South Beach strip this time, we did manage a sun-downer in a fantastic open air bar called the Cleavelander (http://www.clevelander.com/) listening to the laid back Miami house grooves being spun by the DJ, before we had to head to the airport to catch our flight and return to Grand Cayman laden with all our swag.
Needless to say, we will not need to be doing any more shopping for a while...!
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