I feel so lucky to have explored as much of America as we have in the last six months, including trips to Lake Tahoe, Santa Cruz, LA, and New York. So when some of our friends invited us on a beach holiday to Miami a couple of months ago, we jumped at the chance. At the time, everyone in the group mentioned that it would be great to go somewhere sunny and warm and, having not yet experienced my first San Francisco summer, I was a bit baffled by this – surely summer in Northern California would be glorious, no?
Well, it turns out that it’s actually a little chilly. Obviously as a Brit I can’t and won’t complain, but lets just say that I surprised myself by how excited I was to step off of the plane into a warm, tropical climate when we touched down in Miami a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve touched on what we got up to in my recent Little Things post but I wanted to include a Miami photo diary too, if nothing but to serve as a personal reminder of the beautiful buildings and delicious food we enjoyed. As a group of eight, we decided to stay in a rented apartment rather than a hotel, and we ended up in the thick of it on South Beach’s Ocean Drive.
Ocean Drive is like another world. Part Balearic island, part Venice Beach, the sidewalks are heaving with revelers, restaurants and rich kids. There are muscle men in vintage cars, go-go dancers in artificial fish tanks and more neon bikinis than you can shake a palm frond at. It’s loud, colourful and for the most part, one long 24-7 party.
The backdrop for the action is the city’s Art Deco district, where soothing peppermint green and candy floss pink buildings have been lovingly preserved. The colours of the buildings (now mostly hotels and restaurants) are said to represent the colours of Miami – yellows for the sand, pinks for the sunset and blues and greens for the sea and sky. This concentration of 1930s architecture and design grounds the party atmosphere and makes for a very unique experience. Brighton beach it certainly is not.
Along with the architecture, another highlight of this five-day trip was the food tour that our friend Shawna persuaded the group to go on. I think we were all a little skeptical that it would feel too formal and that we’d leave feeling hungry but we couldn’t have been more wrong. We learnt heaps about the history of South Beach and the food it has become famous for and, to be honest, any tour that starts with Dulce de leche-stuffed churros is a winner for me!
So before I ramble on any further, here are some photographs from our long weekend in Miami (shot on my DLSR and Mini Diana lomo camera)…
Wet Willie’s on Ocean Drive! ♥ Oh Miami, I want to go back! Sam’s auntie just returned from there, she said how incredible it is.