Day 3

Our dinner venue last evening was a true American diner, taken apart, shipped from Pennsylvania and reassembled here in Miami Beach. Old diners don’t die, they go to Florida! 

On the recommendation of the New York Times, I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken but I was disappointed! I trust, as the Remain side of Brexit do, that it was not chlorinated chicken!!

On leaving the diner, we noticed the impressive Police and Courts facility. 

Afterwards, we took a stroll down Ocean Drive to see the Art Deco buidings in their evening dress

The Drive was awash with people enjoying the New Year week-end. 

Today we commenced the morning by taking a tour organized by the Miami Design Preservation league, an organization set up in 1979 to protect the c.1,000 historic Art Deco buidings in the one square mile beach area. 

Miami Beach reached its hey day in the 1920s and 1930s as a playground for the rich and famous. The city did not welcome Alcapone in the winter of 1928!!

When the Americans joined WW11, the city’s hotels were used as barracks to train the soldiers before they departed for Europe. 

After the war, the Beach became a centre for the Mafia in the 1950s. 

In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the hotels in South  Beach fell into disrepair and were converted to condominiums for the poor and elderly. Today, as one observed all the rejuvenated Art Deco, Mediterranean and MiMo hotels, it is hard to reconcile that their porches were once occupied by the old, sitting in rocking chairs or the poor with their lines of washing hanging from clothes lines flung out to the nearest tree! 

In 1980 Andy Warhol, the pop artist painter visited the area and put it on the map. 

In the 1990s, it was a retreat for the gay population at the height of the HIV outbreak. They came to Miami Beach to live it up, as they expected that death was imminent! In 1992 Versace bought a mansion on Ocean Drive and the rich and famous visited here, including Elton John and Princess Diana.  

Eyes are raised when he demolished an Art Deco Hotel next door. In 1997, he was assassinated on the steps of that mansion. The mansion is now the hotel Villa Casuarina and if this is your wont, you may stay here and experience the site where not only the famous designer lived and died but where a film of the assassination was made!!

It was not until c 2,000 that the area became an attractive holiday destination. 

Our tour guide, a volunteer with the League, gave us an excellent, informative tour and took us inside the hotels to admire the Art Deco features. 

We were taken onto roof tops, where in the heddy days of the 1920s and 30s, they danced the night away. 

At the conclusion of the tour, we adjourned to a nearby restaurant for a healthy, Green breakfast - note the portion!!

We are now about to spend the afternoon in Little Havana, in Miami proper. 

More tomorrow..... or when I get internet connection again. We board the Silhouette tomorrow afternoon and set sail for the Caribbean - first port of call San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Day 2

Last night we had intended to eat at Spiga Restaurant in the Impala hotel, a sister of our hotel, located next door. However, much to our displeasure it was booked out!! The owner was helpful and directed us to Espanola Way, a two block pedestrianised, palm tree lined mall, designed by NBT Roney in 1925 and conceived to resemble a Spanish/Mediterranean village with its chalky pink stucco and Spanish roof tiles. 

Tonight it was bustling with people. Hostesses lined the way, encouraging us to eat at their restaurants. 

The choice for the most part was either Italian, Spanish , Mexican or Cuban. A large proportion of Florida’s population is of Spanish decent - many Cubans fled here after the Revolution when Castro came to power and in addition emigration from South America swelled the Spanish speaking population. Spanish is now widely spoken. 

We were warned to avoid the expensive restaurants on Ocean Drive!! 

We chose La Piccola, an Italian restaurant claiming to make their pasta in house. A plate of spaghetti with Porcini mushrooms for me and a ghnocci for CC sated our appetites. The portions, though delicious, were huge!! One dish would have sufficed. We returned to the hotel. 

This morning, the sun was high in the sky and the temperature was 20 with a promise of 26 in the afternoon. We ate breakfast at the sister hotel - Eggs Benedict for me and 3 fried eggs for CC - again why 3? The portions were too large!! 

We’re off now to do some retail therapy - to Aventura Shopping Mall - a mere 1hr bus journey!! We boarded the number 120 - bus stop conveniently located on 13 and Washington opposite the beautiful Art Deco Post Office - minutes from our hotel -  ($2.60) for a 50 minute ride.  

One interesting nod to transport history was a seat devoted to honouring Rosa Parks

On 1st December 1955 in  Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa refused to give up her seat in the ‘colored section’ of the bus to a white passenger , when the ‘white section’ was full. She wasn’t the first to resist segregation but it was thought that she was the one most likely to succeed in a court challenge for civil disobedience. The case became bogged down  and another similar case succeeded, yet she is known as ‘First Lady of Civil Rights’ 

On arrival at the Mall, we entered a very well presented area where all the usual upmarket shops were located.

It is noticeable in Florida that there is little acknowledgement of the festive season - perhaps it is the weather ? Miami certainly does not emulate NYC but here in the Mall was the only nod to the season that I have seen so far!!

We did some damage in Macy’s, which offered better options than Bloomingdales and Nordstrom’s. 

Unfortunately our return trip hit Friday evening traffic but as we left Miami, we were distracted by the multi-storey, beach side apartment blocks and international hotels whose gardens were lit by numerous lights - not I suspect for X-Mas but all year round. After a time, the beach came into view with its drunken palm trees (as a result of the hurricane), dressed in pin sized lights, waltzed to the gentle breeze, against a dusky sky tinted by the crimson of the setting sun. 

It was dark as we arrived back after 1. 3/4 hrs on the bus! 

 

Miami Beach Day 1

Last night’s late arrival meant that we could go to bed immediately. As a result, thankfully,  this morning, we had no symptoms of jet lag. 

We breakfasted at a local cafe, populated by locals and tourists alike. The temperature was a pleasant 25 degrees  as we strolled  down Collins Ave to admire the Art Deco buildings. 

If you are interested further check out: freetoursbyfoot.com Miami Art Deco District Free Walking Tour  for an excellent article and photographs on Art Deco South Beach. 

John Collins was a farmer and land developer, who in 1913, built the first wooden bridge connecting mainland Miami to Miami Beach but it was Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad that made Miami possible, when in 1896 the railroad made the movement of goods in and out of Miami possible. However, while Flagler is considered the ‘Father of Miami’, Julia Tuttle is known as the ‘Mother of Miami’ as it was she who badgered Henry Flagler to expand his line from Palm Beach south to Miami. Flagler stubbornly refused until the Great Freeze of 1895, when Julia send Flagler fruit to Palm Beach to prove that Miami had escaped the Freeze. Flaghler capitulated and the railroad was extended to Miami and thus the American Riviera developed with its Art Deco buidings of South Beach providing a playground for the rich and famous. 

At 5th Street, we turned towards Ocean Drive and Lumus Park, which separates Ocean Drive from the Beach.  

We walked onto the beach, an extensive public beach, which accommodated  many sunworshippers 

Returning to Ocean Drive, we continued our admiration of the Art Deco buildings, standing side by side - the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world.   

We sat and observed young people playing volley ball in Lumus Park. 

We continued down Ocean Drive passing more Art Deco buildings as we walked. 

and once again turned into Collins Avenue and back to the hotel for a rest. 

We left the hotel again and walking up Washington Street, we boarded a free trolley bus which took a most uninteresting route through the south loop of the city - a disappointing 1hr 20 - the best of the city is on Collins and Ocean Drive! 

Tonight, we are dining at  an Italian restaurant which is part of our hotel which for the most part has had excellent reviews - I’ll reveal all tomorrow .........

Dublin - Heathrow -London - Miami

Miami here we come!

The landing at Heathrow was ropy - due to dense cloud. 

Flying Business Class,  we enjoyed the comforts of the BA Club Lounge where copious food and wide variety of champagne, wine and spirits were available. The Lounge at Dublin Airport was a disappointment by comparison! 

The boarding was chaotic!! First Class, Business Class and Priority Boarding, of which there were many, vied to board!!

Once boarded, we were invited to partake of a choice of champagnes. We were due to depart on time at 14.15 but a discrepancy in the baggage paperwork has delayed our departure!!  It may have been our fault as BA appeared to make a mess of our booking. When we tried to check in on line, we are refused and it took two phone calls to BA and one to AA to sort the problem or so we thought!!  However, on arrival in Dublin airport, we were informed that there were two bookings in our names! 

It was most comfortable to turn one’s seat into a bed, have proper headphones and a wide choice of movies. I watched Churchill, My Cousin Rachel and an interesting documentary on the Director Steven Spielberg. I slept for 4 hours. 

We had an aperitif, dinner of choice - mine - wild mushrooms with artichokes, followed by a delicious main course of mouthwatering beef , together with a choice of wines and desert or a cheese board together with a digestif. An hour prior to landing, a delicious afternoon tea was served. All meals were served on a tray covered with a white linen table cloth and real cutlery!!! (My apologies, I forgot to take photos.) 

The 10 hour journey was to increase to 11 hours due to the baggage debacle. However, we made up some time and arrived a half an hour earlier than scheduled. We departed at 15.15 and arrived at 19.45 local time - a gain of 5 hours. 

Luckily, our luggage was there when we arrived at the carousel, having cleared Emigration surprisingly quickly. 

A quick 20 minute taxi ride ($35 flat fee) brought us to La Flora, an Art Deco 

hotel at 1228 Collins Street in the heart of the Art Deco District,  where a very pleasant young man checked us in - as it was now 21.30 local time - 02.30 GMT it was straight to bed!! 

Letterfreac Co Galway Ireland

We departed Dublin for Rosleague Manor, Letterfreac. As we arrived at Maam Cross, we decided to explore the road through the Maamturk mountains

instead of going to Letterfreac via Clifden. 

It was a misty evening but here and there light broke through the clouds, light so reflective of the West of Ireland.

We arrived at Leenane and drove by spectacular Killary Harbour, the only fjord in Ireland. 

We passed Kylemore Abbey and Connemara National Park before arriving at our destination Rosleague Manor. 

We were welcomed by the quiet, friendly dog of the house. The manor is one of the historic houses of Europe. It's location is spectacular overlooking Ballynakill Bay. 

We were assigned a large garden suite. It was very comfortable and cosy - a perfect place for a winter break! 

We walked down to the shore.

It must have rained a lot here recently as the grass was waterlogged. We continued by road to the pier and called in at the Avoca shop before returning to the manor to dress for dinner. 

We had an aperitif in the conservatory but as it was now dark, we couldn't admire the gardens outside. We then adjourned to the dining room. Dinner was 5 courses and of excellent quality. All the ingredients are sourced locally -  the manor boasts its own pigs and a walled kitchen garden. Starters included rillettes of lamb and cured mountain lamb for me and the best crab claws I've tasted for CC.  Soup or sorbet followed - I can't comment on the soup as we both had the most delicious sorbet. My main course was mouth watering lobster, simply served with salted butter and a juicy fillet steak for CC. For desert, a most generous cheese board with many accoutrements and a delicious local carageen ice cream. Tea and petit fours completed a fantastic meal - if I had a quibble it would be that the petit fours were disappointing. A bottle of St Emilion proved to be a fine accompaniment.  I won't trouble you with photos.!! 

This morning, Sunday, commenced with an appetising breakfast. There were the usual selections - an excellent granola and local smoked salmon were among the highlights of the self service table, followed by poached egg and kidneys for me and an Irish breakfast for CC  - I must compliment their brown breads - they were among the best I've eaten. 

All the talk here is of Ophelia - a tropical storm said to hit the south and west coasts tomorrow morning. We are due to return to Dublin but if the red alert for this area comes to pass, we may have to extend our stay!!  

After a brief respite to enable me to do my exercises post my fractured humerus, we drove into Letterfreac. Here is situated the infamous reformatory school that reflected the brutality of the borstal system, where children were removed from their families for such crimes as truancy from school or their mother dying. Today it is used as a woodworker training centre. 

We continued to nearby Connemara National Park. 

There is an excellent Visitors Centre which explains the history of the area. Having completed our visit there, we went outside.  The weather was questionable? The Apps were forecasting rain but in any event we decided to take a walk in the Park. There are three - one easy, another of medium difficulty and the third more difficult with a steep climb. In consideration of my incapacity, we walked the first two. The scenery was stunning looking down on the bays below from every vantage including the old bog road. 

The walks were not very long about 3km a piece but as we missed the turn for the Diamond walk, we had to retrace our steps. We spent a pleasant two hours walking and though the rain threatened to fall now and again, it did not rain. 

A return to the Manor with the Sunday papers proved irresistible. Now I am sitting by a cosy turf fire relaxing for the evening and yet the rain has not come ...... 

Monday morning 0430 and I heard two German tourists depart for Dublin. At 1030, it appeared calm so we set out for Galway and called on friends. A wind was blowing but not strongly. In Galway, they were expecting the hurricane to arrive at 15.00 hrs. We decided to quit Galway at 13.30.  It hadn't yet hit the Midlands as yet and we were informed that Dublin was quiet. The motorway was windy but not excessive. We arrived safely in Dublin.   

It was a most enjoyable week- end. 

Bordeaux-St Emilion-Granville-Cherbourg

It's Friday and time to hit the road to Bordeaux. It was suppose to be a 4.1/2 hour drive until we met a severe traffic jam outside Bordeaux and in addition Sat Nav was playing tricks again so our arrival time was  2.1/2 hour later than planned.!! 

The journey through the Cantabrian mountains was very scenic albeit that sudden thunder showers intermittently occurred. Little wonder the area is so green in contrast to the landscape of its southern cousins.

The Basque people are very proud of their heritage. Their language is a living one. The area is divided 50:50 as to whether to secede from Spain or not.   

We crossed the border. The only indication was a change in language on the signposts. We eventually reached the Ibis hotel in a great location on the Bastide side of the Bordeaux but a few minutes tram ride/10 minutes walk to the Bourse. 

The evening was spent in the old city. We took a tram and 3 stops later, we were on the quays. As it was Friday night the place was alive, especially with young people. It was somewhat cold but most people were sitting outside the bars and restaurants. After a brief walk, we chose a fish restaurant and had the  French favourite huitres (oysters).  The city looked lovely bathed in light. 

      Porte Cailhau-an old city gate (1495)

This morning (Saturday), we took Bat 3 (€2), a 3 minutes walk from the hotel, to the recently opened La Cite du Vin. 

It was a very pleasant  voyage along the Garonne. 

The  morning was bathed in warm sunshine and the citizens of Bordeaux are out walking, cycling and breakfasting along the quays. 

                      La Cite du Vin

The €20pp entrance fee to La Cite, I thought a little steep, for what was a very basic description of the wine industry. An audio tape was supplied with 1-2 minute snippets of information on various presentations. Possibly, if we had more time, we might have delved deeper, though I doubt we'd have learned much!!  I considered that trying to accommodate all wine regions of the world was too ambitious! 

On the first level were conference rooms, on the second an explanation of the wine industry, on the 9th, a panoramic restaurant and on the11th a panoramic view of the city, with a glass of wine included  in your ticket price. 

There were no grand crus among the selection!! 

On the ground floor was a very spectacular wine shop, selling wines from all areas of the world and a restaurant. 

Wine tastings were available at a price as was 

a lecture on the architecture of the building. 

We quitted the Cite and returned again by boat to the hotel. 

Saint - Emilion was our next destination. It is just 1/2 hour from Bordeaux, though with no road signs in Bordeaux, it proved a challenge to find the correct road (Sat Nav was misbehaving again!) but eventually we arrived in the very picturesque town. 

It is a world heritage site - the first wine area to be so designated. It is a beautiful village with a church dominating the central place. 

A wedding had taken place in the church and their chariot awaited.  

 

                       Saint Emilion

The grapes were heavy on the vines, awaiting harvesting. 

I wonder will the recent thunder storms experienced in the area damage this year's crop? It is a difficult industry so reliant on the vagaries of the weather.

There are in excess of 127 chateaux in the village and surrounding area. There were many wine shops in the village and a large cave du vin but the village had kept its integrity unlike the garish Chateau Neuf du Pape village, we had visited on our Rhone trip. We visited Le Petit Gravet in the lower village square and made a purchase. 

This morning (Sunday), we decided to visit some chateaux. We visited Saint Christophe, a small, family owned 8 hectare estate.

The chateau has been in the family for seven  generations. The wife of the present owner gave us a tour and explained their process in detail. I am impressed by her enthusiasm, considering she  does not know whether we will purchase or not. We tasted their three wines - most of their customers are French - the chateau only exports 5% !! We purchased a case. She explained that it was difficult for the chateaux as the Russians and Chinese are tempting owners with their unlimited cash. As a result the price of a hectare has trebled in the last ten years. She added that it is difficult for family enterprises as the inheritance tax is 30%, which must be a huge sum for families to raise in this difficult industry, so open to the vagaries of the weather. The harvest commences c 25 September and the wine growers are hoping for temperatures of 25-30 for the next three weeks so the grapes can ripen. I tasted a few and they appeared ripe to me!!  They had to contend with frost in April and much rain this year!

Why are governments so slow to address these  anomalies.? It is similar in London, where again the Chinese and Russians are investing in apartments in the wealthiest parts of London and leaving them idle. It is said many apartment blocks in areas such as Chelsea are mostly dark at night because of absentee buyers!! 

We eventually located Chateau Clotte. It is a popular wine among the local wine growers so we decided to visit it. We located the previous owner. She explained that she had run it with her two cousins but it needed big investment and the cousins were unwilling  Were they lured by Chinese or Russian money, I wonder?The new owner had closed it at present awaiting renovation !! 

Our next chateau was Arnaud de Jacquemeau - here they practice organic farming. 

  

A tasting had just finished as we arrived. The owner did not speak English but his elderly father did. Having enquired as to whether or not we had time for a tour, with our acquiescence, he treated us to the most informative tour we had yet received and gave us a detailed step by step demonstration on how to PREPARE before drinking wine. One could see his passion for his subject and how proud he was of his ancestor who planted the first vines on the estate in1870 - another two cases added to our stock!

Last night we chose a restaurant in St Emilion. 

Even though our hotel is only 3 km from restaurant it cost €40 return as taxis have to come from nearest town 8 km away. I suspect we were the only clients. Le Roy de Clos was an excellent choice. Initially, we sat outside, but the rain arrived in buckets and all the guests had to retreat inside. The meal was superb 

 

                      Cod with celery

 

                Duck with forest fruits

 

     Chocolate filled Macroon with ice cream

Menu €32 - all delicious with excellent flavours with the exception of the cod which was a little bland. 

The quality of French food for the price is amazing. The waist line would be seriously compromised if I lived here! 

Yesterday (Monday) , as we left St Emilion, we visited the nearby Chateau Cantenac, 

purchased more wine and set out for Granville, the home of Christian Dior , where we spent the night -  to break our journey to Cherbourg. We travelled via Bordeaux, Saintes, Nantes and Rennes to Granville on the coast. Thankfully, the roads were quiet, the French having returned to work after their August break!  

The town of Granville is situated on the coast and boasts a beautiful beach with an amazingly, large marina. 

               A portion of the marina!! 

I suspect everyone in Granville owns a small yacht.! 

Granville is the home of Christian Dior.

We took a walk along Casino plage. It was a beautiful autumnal morning and a few hardy souls graced the beach. The promenade had bathing boxes reminiscent of former times. 

We reached the end of the promenade and climbed the steps up to the house. It is in a spectacular setting - high above the town and looking out on the beach.  

As we approached the house could be seen, situated in spectacular gardens. 

The house was purchased by Christian's father in 1906. His mother Madeline had a great interest in gardening and it was her rose garden which inspired his perfume fragrances. 

His mother died in 1931 and a few years later, the house and gardens were given to Granville. Why this bequest was not explained but the town opened a museum in Dior's honour in the 1990s.  

Inside the house (no photos permitted), were a few examples of Dior's creations but most exhibits were by later House designers. 

             John Galliano's creations!! 

The museum was well presented and there was an informative video with English subtitles. All other notations were in French. 

I walked back to the town and returned to the hotel to commence our drive to Cherbourg. What a journey it turned out to be! As I sit here, as the ship departs the port of Cherbourg, I didn't think we'd make it! 

Leaving Granville, there are few signs and at one point we turned back, thinking we were on the wrong road. The car's Sat Nav and google maps kept recalculating and the road signage was woeful. We were on the correct road! 

Next we came upon a very recent road  accident, involving three cars! As a result the road was completely blocked and the cars appeared in no position to move though thankfully no one appeared injured. As we didn't know how long it would take to clear, we had to reroute. Without appropriate signage and technology of little use, we found ourselves at one point going in the opposite direction to Cherbourg! Finally we arrived at the motorway, where signage was excellent but by the our ETA was 17.40. The ship sailed at 18.00 and last check-in was at 17.00!

Speed limits were broken and having been observing the limits throughout the trip, CC was now driving like the French, who never appear to observe speed limits. 

We arrived at 1735 and to our relief, we were allowed to board. By 1750, much relieved, we were sitting in our cabin, awaiting departure!! 

What a day! I was never so glad to see Cherbourg! 

One tip: if you like an early morning cuppa - buy a travel kettle. The hotels in France and Spain do not for the most part provide tea/ coffee making facilities. 

Until the next trip ........