Travel Blog

Saturday I gave my tour of Miami – for the first time in a while – to our Belgian neighbors. We started in Coral Gables: Biltmore Hotel, where we saw a bride and groom posing for photos (pictures on Instagram), the Venetian Pool, and Books & Books. An autographed copy of The Joys of Travel still sat on the shelf, waiting for a good home.

From there we drove up Ponce de Leon to SW 8^th Street. After cafecitos at Versailles, we headed down to Dominoes Park. Ball & Chain was as lively as always but the colorful cigar shop a few doors down from the Tower Theater had its shutters pulled tight. “First time I’ve seen that,” said a tour guide as he led his much larger group up the street.

My plan was to take a stroll through Brickell City Centre, but Maïthé had been there so we drove under it, then over the Miami River into downtown. Maïthé suggested a drink somewhere, so I parked in front of the Langford Hotel and we took the elevator to the roof, where the waiter was so rude, and the atmosphere so uninspiring, that we got back in the car and headed up Brickell – where I pointed out Bayside, the Freedom Tower, the American Airlines Arena, Zaha Hadid’s still unfinished condo tower, the Arsht Center, the old Bacardi headquarters – and then over into Wynwood, which gave me another beautiful parking spot right in front of Bakan. We joined the crowd at the bar and watched the sunset.

Our last stop was the Design District for dinner at Estefan’s Kitchen. I showed our waitress my photo of Gloria, who, we were told, comes by most Friday evenings. For dessert we walked up the fairytale passageway to Aubi & Ramsa, the intimate bar that sells only ice cream. I got Belgian chocolate laced with Jack Daniel’s.