Once we were done with breakfast, we had to check out of our room and store our luggage. Then we took a long walk to the Art Deco Welcome Center on Ocean Drive. I love the Art Deco period, and it makes me so happy that Miami Beach was and is still today a city that believes in historic preservation. We took the self-guided audio tour and got to see and learn about just a sampling of South Beach's wealth of Art Deco architecture. A great number of the buildings remain small boutique hotels.
In addition to the many Art Deco buildings, Ocean Drive is also home to Amsterdam Palace aka Versace Mansion, which was the location of a seriously sad event in fashion history.
We pretty much had all day to complete the audio tour so we took a break for lunch in the middle of our walk. Like many of the restaurants on the Lincoln Road Mall, The Cafe at Books and Books has a huge outdoor seating area. The weather was perfect for dining al fresco. I ordered "The South Beach" sandwich, which had turkey, brie, pear, watercress and mango chutney butter.
We continued on our tour and were led to a beautiful old Post Office. They sure don't make them like they used to.
We saw many more preserved Art Deco buildings. The Tiffany may have been my favorite.
We made our way back towards our starting point, but not before seeing this cool antique car and spotting a Space Invader mosaic. There are many more around the city, but that was the only one my not-so-eagle eyes saw.
At the end of our tour, we took a stroll through the famous Lummus Park.
Along the way, we caught of glimpse of a shirtless man skateboarding through the park with a very large snake! There were some odd glances but no one seemed to think twice about it.
The walk led us back towards our hotel and as you can see, it was a beautiful day to be at the beach.
Our last few hours in South Beach were spent hanging by the pool. A perfect way to spend the afternoon.
The time came for us to start heading towards the airport, but we first needed to grab some food at Joe's Takeaway. We enjoyed a few crab claws from this Miami institution.
But wait, there's more. Key lime pie served as our last taste of Florida.
And we drove to the airport with this sunset bidding us farewell. Until we meet again, Florida!
To see more photos from Florida, visit my Flickr page.
The Cafe at Books and Books
927 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Joe's Takeaway
11 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
This looks like a really nice Florida hotel! What a great way to spend your spring break. It looks like you were really close to the beach.
ReplyDeleteThe beach was right outside the hotel. It was worth it and a great way to spend my final spring break!
DeleteWhat an amazing way to spend spring break! The photos look like they could have been on the cover of a travel magazine. I've got a luxury bermuda hotel resort booked for spring break this year and I couldn't be more excited!
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