I didn’t bump into her she e-mailed to point out that her mum and dad sit on the pier at Naples most evenings.
I need to go near somewhere seedy, lets see who claims to have been to that little piece of the world then huh dude.
Because this still astounds me I have to include pictures of Miami and say once again there are no photographic touch ups ….the sky really is this blue
And as you might expect we had to pick up a bijou residence here
“Key” side
Beach side
A note while I remember for CSI Miami lovers…Horatio is not able to hum across the Keys at speed in case he knocks any Key Deer down (didn’t see any) speeding laws are very strictly applied which is why it takes 3 hours to do 153 miles (Miami to Key West).
I include the next photo for those CSI Miami lovers (it is as regular as the 9 (10?) o’clock news in England).
Sorry no Callie she was soaking her pants wth Persil White and sharpening that nasal twang on a state of the art lathe. I have just received news also that Eric was busy removing a Steinway grand and a Venetian Murano chandelier from the stomach of an alligator on Boca Chica Key (which is Spanish for Big Mouth well it would have to be wouldn't it).
We stayed at the Hotel Deauville in Miami North Beach – it is a consummate Art Deco building and the blurb says that various members of the rat pack stayed there. We just saw someone trying out their drag costume before nipping down to the annual drag queen street dash in Key West where the higher the heels the greater the seconds rewards added to your time…unfortunately we missed it and P had packed his best lilac chemise.
The hotel was an impressive building along with the valet service fees and we did half expect to learn that the rat pack had been cryogenically interfered with and stored in the jammed lift which clearly had not been part of the extensive renovation work.
And if you think the hotels here can clean your pockets out that is nothing compared with South Miami beach which is more referred to as the Art deco district. With such a concentration of it I was half expecting Noel Coward to round a corner in his cravat and dressing gown, cigarette with holder at a jaunty angle whistling Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
The beaches here are so nice that you can laze all day and get thoroughly burned, photographs not supplied……or register at the beach club complete with harem style double bunk beds…and not a single Don Johnson style grease ball in site only some dodgy English looking bloke.
Apparently most of Miami waterfront from the early 1900s was built using Mafia money. I have no idea if this is true but if constructions reflect power and strength then it probably isn’t a good idea to mess with these guys.
And other than the wing mirror I really like this one…
Scale applies to the cruise business too.
Now we are off to Naples (Florida) via
0547Which is a misnomer since there is a lower route whose number escapes me, it is minus the fences and all kinds of wildlife will wander across your path.
Naples is termed the playground of the rich and it would appear of the old established family kind (Melinda you kept that quiet). No evidence of the currently estimated $3 trillion debt in the US – though it could be another dollop of the proverbial mentioned in my emotional blog…I am sorry my chest is irritated by another b…sh.t issue wishing to escape…
All the cafes here advertise free wi fi internet access but it turns out “they all happen to sit within range of a business just across the road who has it but ultimately the message burned on my screen “no networks found in range” surely means that the dollops are not just aimed at foreigners or they really are self delusional and I am not becoming paranoid….much.
We stayed in the only traditional motel remaining in Old Naples - The Mariner. Melinda will know it well….Here I had one of my juvenile moments (just the one I hear you say). A woodpecker alighted on a tree which was exciting enough but then flew to the wooden beams which are part of the décor and proceeded to do its drilling thing and really really they do look like Woody Woodpecker and I had to sing, thus I missed the snap…
I believe the desk clerk at the Mariner really loves the idea that this cooky gem of a place must really wind up the real estate developers and realty agents because it limits the addition of another 0 to the price tag of the surrounding buildings
P’s favourite
The entrance to mine
The motel was a little more than we normally pay which did not reflect in the internal décor. The "sayloon" style doors you see into the kitchen had a "My Little Pony" jewellery box padlock which needed unlocking special like....clearly they only expected your average 280lb american to stay without a hope in hell of crawling through the 3 foot gap at the bottom.
But we were 30 yards from the beach where we spent a whole morning beach combing
and wandering past very expensive windcheaters and slacks not to mention
Oh and an ex forces guy with the top bit of his right ear missing (it’s hard not to be fascinated like a child even tho’ your mum brought you up proper) who thought he might end his widower days doing 150 miles an hour on an autobahn in a Lamborghini.
I brought back lots of shells and some pink sponge and just like the bucket shaped watery coffin under the caravan at Limekiln Lane, Bridlington, east Yorkshire, which housed the single microscopic crab I dare pick up aged six (my age, the crab was from the catatonic age) …it stank to high heaven….My treasure trove has been consigned to the balcony and I have to keep changing the water even though I was not the one who picked up a shell with a live snail in it and with which we cohabited for 2 days! Like our tomato plants and sunflowers the shells will soon be bleaching in the sun, about 3 pm this afternoon.
And so to my Steve Irwin phase…
