Ft Lauderdale and Miami Beach, April 2011

We booked a hotel (Riverside Hotel) in Ft Lauderdale for one night. John made reservation to see the "Vatican Splendors" exhibition at the Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art. It was our first trip going to south Florida.

What a charming city! I particularly loved the late dinner (9 o'clock). Restaurants and shops were busy with customers, the sidewalk was filled with people and families with young children. I hadn't had such "night life" for years!

The next morning we drove to Miami Beach.

The north half of this island were filled with highrise condos, the south half (South Beach) with quaint little Art Deco hotels and guest houses. We struggled to decide whether to have Jewish or Cuban lunch, and settled on Cuban. Later (after we got home), I found out that the Cuban restaurant where we had lunch (David's Cafe) is right around the corner of the Versace mansion.

After 32 hours being away from home (which felt like a long, foreign vacation), we came back to the blooming gardenia plants. Ah, home, sweet home!

Later in 2011 we took another two-day trip to Savannah.