Thursday, January 26, 2012

Miami Nice


We had a great visit in Miami having good weather and staying on the go the entire time. On Wednesday (1/26) we went to the Coconut Grove area and visited the Fairchild Tropical Gardens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Tropical_Botanic_Garden, one of the world’s best tropical gardens featuring palms, cycads, flowering trees and shrubs, vines and fruit trees.  
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We arrived in the morning and spent a couple of hours in the garden and took the guided tram tour.  A number of sculptures adorn the gardens including  “Icon” (below) and other flower sculptures by Will Ryman
 
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Then we biked Old Cutler Road about four miles into Coconut Grove
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where we had lunch at the Jaguar Restaurant which we had seen reviewed on a Miami public TV program called “Check Please South Florida.” The Jaguar is known for its cerviche dishes, but we chose the ahi tuna sandwich and chicken and cheese quesadillas.
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After lunch we continued biking north and came upon a big marina, and to our surprise we also found there the Miami City Hall. Frankly, the building looked like an airport terminal. We asked a local, and sure enough this building originally was the Pan Am Clipper Ship Terminal where flying boats provided service to South America.
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The marina office had old photographs of the terminal and the flying boats.
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We biked back to Fairchild and spent more time in the gardens and saw the three glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly including “End of DayTower.”                                
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