Days 26 and 27 - Ups and Downs in Palm Tree City

The morning after the game we had a lazy morning in the hotel. Andy had crashed on the floor because of the distance to South Beach, and once we had faffed for a long hour we went out to grab some brunch. I had found a small French café round the corner so we all went and had an omelette.

After eggs and fruit we planned to head back to the hotel and get things ready for a trip to the iconic South Beach. Andy went off for a haircut while Jan and I mooched about in the room. 

Andy returned with his $12 army hair cut and we set off to the beach. It took about 20 minutes by bus; South Beach is located on an island off the coast of Miami and so is connected to the mainland by a few bridges, which are congested perpetually, obviously. We arrived at the idyllic beach after a brief stop off at Andy's hostel; the place wouldn't have looked out of place on a tropical island. The only snag was that grey clouds loomed in the distance and were approaching with the wind.

After a 20 minute wade, we followed a significant portion of the beach goers off the sand as the rain began to spit. Hardened tourists and Miami locals remained rooted to their deck chairs as they sought to ride out the imminent shower. We weren't that fussed evidently.

We got onto the main parade on South Beach island and walked down the umbrellaed paths lined with restaurants and cafés, eventually stopping at Johnny Rockets for a milkshake and nachos.

Though slightly uneased by the out of place disaster movie-esque clouds on beach paradise, we perked up with good old retro dessert drinks and a sighting of a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest car in the world. Speaking from experience, Miami is not the place to come and play with the land speed record. It did turn some heads though.

Fast forward a few hours and we were out with Andy again, on South Beach - again - getting some dinner in the Spanish/Cuban quarter. We were feeling some Italian, and I was craving pasta in particular, so when we found a place with reasonable mains we sat down. The maitre'd had her routine down to a T, and the boys both went for her chicken recommendation. I opted for my bolognaise and was rewarded sumptuously. Good old comfort food. We were also offered a complimentary limoncello on departure!

Ladz on tour

A toast to our last night with Andy

After dinner we hurried along to a tourism agency to sign up for the night's entertainment; Andy had arranged an open bar and night out at a Miami club for us through a girl he had met on Contiki tour in Germany - boy gets around. We were also apparently going to be transported via stretch hummer(!) to this venue. After paying for wristbands and meeting the ladies who were to be joining us in this dodgy deal, we went next door to begin sipping on the Grey Goose.

The limo showed up at 11 and we got fairly excited.

We got into the club after some pushing and shoving (we also had a huge Spanish man there to bulldoze our way in) and danced the rest of the night away in the humongous Mansion.

Jannick and I grabbed a cab from the club at about 2 after losing Andy some time before; thanks for the goodbye, pal. Going to bed in drunken haziness, we were aware that the sweet relief of sleep would be a fleeting delight; the next morning we had scheduled for an exercise of laddy decadence like no other - breakfast in bed over Liverpool vs. Man United.

Bed hair central

Another omelette

Though the match was lost by a nobler crew, the better team won. I used expensive omelette and hash browns to soak up my tears and hangover, and we essentially didn't move for the entire day. Jan popped out for a Subway at 4, having not felt much hunger for his eggy plate earlier, but for the most part we enjoyed snoozing and enjoying the bodacious view from the balcony.

In the early evening, we felt compelled to refresh the pores, so went down to the pool (on the 16th floor!) and had a dip in the water. It was a soothing hangover cure and a nice way to gear up for dinner, as well as being an enviable perch from which to view the city.

Then we went out for dinner, targeting a bar that Jan had found online that was made up of car number plates. It was affordable, but economic considerations were largely eclipsed by an ulterior motive - capturing the last two state plates for a full 50 tally in the state plate game. Hawaii (fair enough) and wascally Wyoming... It was evening on Labour Day Sunday so it was unfortunately closed, along with much of the Miami Downtown eateries. With this disappointment, we reluctantly dragged ourselves to Subway - for Jannick's second sandwich of the day - to conclude our penultimate night in Miami.