Our plan is to walk the western section of South Beach, all reclaimed land, until we reach Venetian Way, then cross to the mainland. It has a few issues where the condos have private access, but I’m only one street wrong in working out when we can get to the water, after which we follow the lagoon until we get to the bridge.
All the islands in the Venetian section are man-made, as is evidenced by their uniformity, we follow the streets, looking at houses anywhere between $4m and $45m, some of which at 2000 sq ft are no bigger than ours - although many are four times that size - location, location, location indeed! And whom the neighbours are, of course!!
After crossing into Miami we find the theatre area with both concert hall and traditional space for ballet and opera, but sadly they are not open for a nosey. Moving on we find the Beckham’s tower, astonishingly imposing from the street. Dave doesn’t unexpectedly show up to invite us in, so we move on, past the Miami Heat’s home ground.
Next to the Miami Daily News Building, later known as Freedom Tower. Unsurprisingly with its name, originally the local rag’s offices, in 1962 it became the processing centre for arriving Cubans, nickname Ellis Island of the South. Subsequently a museum, it is now university property. Opposite is the Pedro Pan (Peter Pan) monument - unknown to me, there was a movement of young Cuban people to the US in the sixties - pedropan.org has essential reading.
The local market area meets with the marina to form a shopping centre popular with cruise passengers, and adjacent to a park which today is off-limits, being de-rigged after the weekend’s music festival ended. For us it’s fascinating to see the amount of equipment being deployed, and how many crew.
Walking beyond we come once again to the Aston Martin building, marvelling at its design and construction, but pass by to find the fort where it all began - complete with plaque to celebrate Julia Tuttle and what she started. We return via a Mom and Pop store to get lunch, which we eat like students outside the U - University of Miami Dade, before starting the serious walk back to the Goodtime Hotel and more specifically it’s pool.
As I failed to photo yesterday’s craft, it was fortunate that she was birthed as we walked past, so got a nice shot, as well as Seven Seas Splendour - from allegedly the poshest cruise line on the seas, and the Fisher Island ferry. And who can ignore a bit more architecture?
Later we head out for dinner, only to learn it’s been raining quite heavily, although slowing down now. We grab a ‘brolly from reception and step out for dinner. I can’t resist photographing a “Christine” style car along the way.
Even if you didn’t see “the Assassination of Gianni Versace” on American Crime you might know he was shot on his front step in 1997, the fifth victim of a serial killer. His incredible mansion is now a boutique hotel, and a rather less than boutique restaurant, but we had to check it out.
Having written my review, it’s easiest to post that below:
We used OpenTable to make our booking for 20:00, and arrived 10 minutes early. Imagine our surprise to find a scene reminiscent of a third-world bus station - people milling everywhere, in all manner of dress-sense from smart via street-smart to uncouth.
We’re told that we will receive a text when our table is ready, but by 20:15 we approach the desk again, and someone tells us our table is just ready.
In the interim we’ve explored the main dining room, seen how busy and noisy it is, so are dreading dinner. Happily we’re whisked away to a very much smaller room, walls encrusted with Italian shells, which we later learn was indeed the original dining room.
With just five tables things start to improve immediately, the server and bus-boy are professional and although slow we get drinks eventually, and in due course our order is taken.
We start with sea bass gougons and Kobe carpaccio, both excellent, the latter very true to Italian style.
Next we have roast chicken and lamb chops. The chicken is excellent even though it was served in a cooking utensil instead of a plate, but the roast potatoes are disappointing - soft not crispy, in fact not roasted at all. The lamb however is excellent.
For pudding we share a dark chocolate ball, exploded by white chocolate sauce to reveal its hidden inner contents, a well worn trick these days but fun nevertheless.
We enjoy a glass of Stags Leap Chardonnay and a bottle of Aruma Malbec both of which are very good.
The cost is $360 which is not cheap but consistent with the area.
To finish we take a walk around the main dining room, which is the former garden / courtyard of the residence, covered over - it’s a good job as we have rain, and the floor is wet, water is pouring in near some tables, and additionally the noise remains intolerable. Thank goodness we didn’t dine here.
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