| So we left the Florida Keys and headed up to Miami and Miami Beach en
route to a site near Fort Lauderdale. Miami Beach is on a sand bar off the
coast and thus protecting Miami from the worst of the weather. But this shot
is of South Miami. |  |
 | There are huge
numbers of high rise blocks, but the majority are either hotels or
condominiums. Miami is famous for its art deco architecture, so a lot of the
modern buildings are in keeping with this style even if they aren't genuine
art deco. Thus many are quite colourful and stylish. Of course
the sunshine helps, but this is what brings the snowbirds down here to fill
them up, so the traffic is horrendous and travel very slow - and
being in an RV doesn't help. |
| There is a bit of a local people mover but I don't think it would
make a significant difference. There is also an Amtrak commuter service both
north and south. It too is very colourful but I didn't manage to catch it
'on film'.
It isn't going to impact much on traffic either. It is more a nominal
remnant of a bygone age. |  |
 | This
quite slim tower is on top of a building which I think had some civic
meaning. It looks town hall-ish, but not in a huge way. American cities
tend to be quite small with the surrounding suburbs acting as independent
entities. Thus it came as a surprise to us that Jacksonville (further north) is
actually (or was until very recently) the largest city in the US. |
| Miami does have its marinas and boats everywhere although Fort
Lauderdale is regarded as the marina capital of the world. This was taken
from the bridge leaving the mainland for the sandbar which contains Miami
Beach. |  |
 | The bridges rise
quite high to allow big yachts to pass underneath without lowering the masts. This is an
inner lake between the mainland and the sandbar. Waterside property is at a
premium but it does enable you to have your own private dock. |
| Miami is also a very important port. There is a lot of container
traffic as can be seen here along with the distinctive container cranes. The
ships are on the far side. There are only barges on this side. |  |
 | The skyscrapers can
look quite artistic and even quite ethereal. I imagine that the bits on top serve some purpose during
hurricanes. There didn't seem to be much damage here although there are huge
amounts of building going on. It is a different class of building though and probably
well able to stand the winds. This is a very wealthy (and expensive) city. |
| And one with a fair amount of architectural flair. We saw few
simple concrete blocks. This is much more how I imagined America to be than
it has proved to be elsewhere. |  |
 | This gives some
idea of just how crowded and busy downtown Miami Beach is both with traffic
and buildings. We would have liked to stop and explore more, but there was
just nowhere with space or height big enough to park the RV. |
| It was a good job we were not in a hurry because travel was
extremely slow. A bit further on we turned inland and picked up the US1
earlier than we had planned because we were beginning to run out of time. |  |
 | But the trip did
serve the purpose of letting us see more of the art deco architecture for which this
area is rightly famous, although whether I would want to live here is
another matter. |
| It is just very attractive. I think, for once, we just managed
to miss the slums which are more on the north side of Miami proper. |  |
 | And the colour does
help. This entire building was bright blue and stood out on the skyline at
the northern edge of Miami Beach. You can't of course easily get to much of the beach
here since most of the coastline is privately owned. Part of the American way I guess. |
|