After we ran to make the Trolley (bus) (to avoid walking 2 miles on the highway to get to the hire car place) and just as the Trolley driver dropped us off where we thought we were meant to be he said we were in the wrong place and would have to wait for an hour for him to do a bus loop to come back and take us to the right place. Not really what you want to hear in 35+ degree heat with humidity. Grrrr.
So we got off the trolley/bus and walked around a bit. Lo and behold we were in the RIGHT place and only one block from the car hire place (NB: I don't know what else to call it? the Rental car shop?). The guy the Big Sissa spoke to on the phone was busy with customers but he was absolutely lovely (the people before us in line had no money, were trying to move house again, had had the rental truck for 1 month, and were about to be charged a ridiculous amount for not filling up the truck with fuel - where most US customer service personnel would be rude in normal circumstances let alone these, he was gentle and tried his hardest to help them out).
Then it was our turn. The Big Sissa joked that we wouldn't mind a free upgrade to the Mustang to which Mr Nice responded 'hang on a minute', bashed a few keys and then replied 'how about... $32 a day for the Mustang but it doesn't come with a full tank of petrol'. Whhaaaat? our Hyundai was going to cost $97 a day! Um sure we'll take the Mustang! And we did.
Mr Nice was the nicest customer service person we have come across in the US so far (more on that in my observations on the US when I get around to writing them up). Not just because of the deal with the car, but because of his overall manner and the way he treated us and the other customers.
So we burned out of there in the red convertible Mustang! Down the highway, Miami bound (via the factory outlet stores)!
We dropped the car back in north South Beach and thought it would be a nice leisurely stroll back along the beach to our hotel. 42 blocks later, in 36 degree heat with about 100% humidity (ok, slight exaggeration as I didn't have my hydrometer with me (!) but I'm pretty sure it was as humid as the scale gets) we finally made it.It was really pretty walking through the shallows of the aqua blue water, once you stepped over all the manky sea weed. We pulled up stumps at our hotel's umbrella and chairs on the beach and flaked out for the rest of the afternoon. The water temps were almost as hot as the air temps so there wasn't much cooling off to be done in the water but it was very relaxing. It's really one of only a handful of 'relax times' we've had here. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty go go go as I don't want to miss out on seeing and experiencing amazing things, particularly in a new city, but at that point we were both completely wiped out and in need of the afternoon kips we had on the beach.
South Beach Miami has some of the most amazing Art Deco architecture in the world, and the highest concentration of Art Deco buildings with something like 800 in the South Beach area. I was in heaven. Art Deco is one of my favourite periods of architecture. They added to the overall feel of Miami beach - think pink flamingos, convertibles, neon lights. It was amazing. I took so many photos (but usual story, I don't have my card with me to upload any to the post at the moment so I'll do that later).
Cyndi Lauper played a concert in Miami when we were there so we bought last minute tickets to add to our list of amazing live music we have seen here in the States. The venue was perfect, an auditorium, but with the most amazing acoustics and close proximity to the stage. Despite being close to 60 years old, she still knows how to rock out! Her latest album Bring Ya To The Brink is full of blues covers (and a few originals) and I'm considering investing. She finished off with her classics - the predominantly gay crowd went wild (the two of us included - in the going wild part, not the predominantly gay part) and sang loud and proud to 'Girls just wanna have fun', 'True colours' and 'Time after Time'.What else?
In Miami we:
- found the most amazing yummy health food restaurant for our dose of fresh veges that we have both been craving. Not easy to find in US restaurants.
- played dressups in tacky tourist shops
- ducked into Miami Ink to check it out and thought about getting a tat (for all of about 5 minutes)
- checked out the line up again for Lollapalooza and got very excited
- had more beach, snooze and swim time
- drove around with our top down (on the car, not us personally you perve!)
- took photos of a crazy character walking his Parrot and Cockatoo around on his shoulders and kissing them. BRider asked if I had seen any 'crack ho's walking round with iguanas on their shoulders' in Miami - alas no, but this was a close second.
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