The sun was shining over Miami as Helmar picked us up from the Hotel. A full 'American Breakfast' was very good indeed and helped kick start the day as during the night, I guess around 3 am the fire alarm went off with lots of bells and whistles and voices instructing you not to use the lifts. Two minutes later we discovered it was a false alarm but it disturbed us at a time when naturally we would be waking at home.
We sat in the car for a while kicking over old times and people we had met etc and it was really very nice. Helmer had decided, and we fully agreed, on a long tour of the best and occasional 'worst' of Miami. Over the next few hours places we visited were Coral Gables, famous for the amazing 'Biltmore Hotel, Little Havana where we had lunch in a Cuban restaurant. Noel had a pork roll and Jennifer and Helmar had the 'Cuban Sandwich' which turned out to be ham and cheese.
We also visited the Cuban memorial and also an amazing church right on the waterfront. Miami is full of non English speaking people and everywhere there were Spanish signs and restaurants. We also visited Doral, Key Biscayne and we then drove up Collins Avenue where the famous Art deco buildings are. They have been beautifully restored into Hotels and bars and restaurants and then also to Coconut Grove. We may not have done the tour in this order but these are places we visited and on Key Biscayne we had the opportunity to drive past some of the most expensive houses in the area with their own helicopter pads and boat docking facilities, Oh how the other half lives. Makes my little rowing boat seem quite unimportant.
We walked around a marina with many bars and restaurants but quite frankly you are spoilt for choice as there are these facilities everywhere as far as the eye can see. There are many expensive condominiums overlooking the sea however the age group tends to be of people in later years except in the bar area.
We had visited earlier in the day a restaurant called the 'Rusty Pelican' 
with great views over the high buildings in downtown Miami beach and so we headed back there for a great dinner and enjoyed the excellent seafood and a couple of glasses wine, we all had a great evening. Helmar took us back to the Hotel around 1030 pm and so we checked email for a few minutes and then headed up to bed as we were quite ready for it. It had been a long, but very enjoyable day in excellent company, and so we went to bed quite tired hoping that the alarm would not go off again.
I would mention that the current temperatures in Miami are extremely low at this time and there are great fears about the orange crop which could easily be affected by the cold temperatures of around 10 degrees Centigrade and sometimes lower, down to freezing some nights. Let's hope that it doesn't last for long.
