Our hotel in Miami was great. We stayed in North Miami beach, right on the beach, and it was a good swimming beach. The water was warm, an the waves were fun. The only problem was the lightning! It just kept coming in. We had an amazing view from our room though.

We always try to eat like a local wherever we are. Here, we ate Cuban the first night, piles of deliciousness and way too much food on our tasting platter: plantains, Fritos, incredible stuffed potatoes, Cuban pork, black beans, it was so good. The second night we ate Spanish, empanadas and pancakes and crumbed chicken like schnitzel...also delicious, if a little hard to order because we didn't speak Spanish. Must work on that.

While we were here we also shot up to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm beach. At West Palm Beach we visited the university to see a crazy shark attack sculpture, it was awesome! We toured the area looking at how the other half live, with their fancy houses and boats of the mega rich. Then we went to Playmobil Fun Park, the highlight of the Kids trip maybe! It was pretty cool, with every kind of playmobil set there to play with, giant figures, and a fabulous (and cheap!) shop. They had a good shopping session :)

We got lost a few times, the highway exits come thick and fast and the traffic is pretty full on, but it meant we got to see the city! After we returned our rental car we toured the area on the free blue trolley, a great way to get around.

A bit more swimming in the pool, then running from the tropical rainstorm, and our time in Miami was done. It was a great place to visit, although I would hate to live there. We had an early night, ready for a very early start heading for our next adventure...