Spectacular Heat

The brittle dryness of my skin melted away the first day in Miami. We relished the early morning sun as we slowly had cafe' con leche and local fresh pastries while we overlooked the peaceful sun rise over the ocean and palm trees. I felt every cold muscle in my back release and understood why so many seniors come to melt away their arthritis in Florida.

The chef's curls started getting super curly with the humidity. Yet another reason to like Miami!

We started the day early with a lazy walk on the humid soft beach.

Just look at those shades of blue.

There were all sorts of different things we found: pieces of coral, sea shells and lots of these things:

Pumice stone for my shower, check!

What in the world is that?!

We were not sure what this was at first. A sign that Miami beach was used by too many lovers?

Gross. Then we saw that it had tentacles and moved when poked. As it turns out, it is a "Man of war Jellyfish" and has an utterly painful sting and can be lethal for small women and will kill children. It's a good thing the Chef stopped poking it with a stick!

We walked along the beach looking at the sea blue water and admiring all of the colorful life guard houses that run along the shore.

Apparently the beach is also a popular place for homeless to sleep at night. And I can't say I blame them. They get to sleep on a soft sandy beach with the sound of the waves and warm temperatures while I pay to sleep bundled up while the ice howls outside of my window for 8 months. Now who is the smart one here?

We discovered coconuts washed up on the beach and little fish swimming close to shore.

The sky darkened quickly and we had already walked several miles so decided it was time to walk back!

Clouds so low you could reach up and touch them.

We enjoyed walking back to the hotel to avoid the tropical storm and loved everything we passed by.

Mamas in the park getting their yoga on.

Mi avete rotto gli...

Strolling along Espanola Way

The Miami Beach post office

Christian Vieri, famous Italian soccer player on Miami Beach 

Ciao da Miami spiaggia!

 I did my restaurant homework before leaving NJ and found a great Neapolitan place called Fratelli la Buffala, typical Miami cuisine.....It wasn't but it was surely delicious. We had contorni misti, foccacia, paccheri with eggplant and tomato, pizza and coffee. It was to die for. Miami is full of young hip Italians who run fabulous restaurants and this place is one of them.

These were to die for

We ended the day with....Happy Hour compliments of our hotel.

We set up our kitchen's chairs next to our room's window to get a better look outside. 

 Then capped the day off with a leisurely walk down Lincoln Road that is an open-air mall. By the end of the day I was from Miami.