South Beach

For just one night (Friday-Sat.) we stayed in the art deco district of South Beach, Miami, in the Best Western on Washington Ave. which was right in the heart of everything- one block from Ocean Drive and the beach, and a few blocks from Espanola Way. Espanola Way, for those hwo have never been to South Beach, is the "spanish street." It is an adorable street, blocked off from cars, that has art galleries, shops, and restaurants. There is a Spanish tapas restaurant on the corner that I LOVE. They have a flamenco dancer live show there. we didn't eat there this trip. Here we are on Espanola Way: Enjoying a meal on Ocean Drive, what else but Calamari? when Manny and I went to south beach in 1996, we ordered calamari app. just about everywhere and I called it the calamari tour. calamari is one of those dishes that is made differently so never gets boring. Ocean Drive is great fun for people watching - only thing better may be City Walk at Universal Studios. there were other parents with kids and strollers too...still too early for the party club scene switchover.
we went to a Thai restaurant for dessert...Shayna was brave and tried something new...think it was Thai doughnuts:
Skyler got sticky rice in the cutest little bamboo container:
we left very very early saturday morning to catch a 9am flight, the sun was just rising as we left. The art deco hotels in south beach are so old and our room was so small it was comical. it was just for one night and we were short on time so I opted to stay right there rather then further from the airport in North Miami Beach. The elevator was the small old fashioned kind like in my grandparents apartment building on 46th St. in Brooklyn. This hotel had a cool lobby, that was all done up south beach style, neon lighting, velvet chairs, moda accents, etc.