February – 2018 – Day 3

It was another beautiful day in Fort Lauderdale, projected to be 78 degrees by 11am and it was.

We started off the morning with an 8:30am sales presentation by the Marriott Vacation planners about the advantage of spending a lot of money in their time share type of program.  The first hour was kind of fun listening to all the options and then the real fun began when they first told us that the $50,000 package was perfect for us, then the $24,000 package was the way to go, and so on for about ½ an hour.  At the end when they realized we were not going to buy anything, they offered us 5 nights at a resort for $999 with a $300 gift card given back to us.  We still said no and left with a promised $50 gift card for our 2 hours of work!!

We went up to the room quickly and changed clothes and headed for the beach at 11:00am but first we stopped at the really great New York Deli and had what Barb said was one of the best deli sandwiches ever – and it wasn’t costly

.

Then we continued to Haulover Beach and spent the rest of the day there, leaving at about 4:30pm.

We drove down thru the main street in Miami Beach and first stopped at the gated island where Cher has her $24 million-dollar home.  The island had a gate and a gate keeper; however, as it was really a “public” street, after seeing our identification and record it, they let us in.  We could only see the top floors of her house, but it was impressive what we could see, as were the rest of the houses on this small island. 

Then we took the causeway to Miami and west to Little Havana, the heart of the Cuban population in Miami.

We had a great dinner consisting of a Cuban chicken stir fry dish, plantains and rice & beans.  We were stuffed when we finished, and the meal was only $13.00 total.  I am not sure anyone in the restaurant on staff spoke any real English – but they knew how to cook their local food.

The main street of Little Havana is about 5 blocks long, so we walked both sides of the streets and stopped at a famous local ice cream shop where we bought a Mango cone and was it ever good.

We also bought some cigars made by Cubans  in a very interesting store and a very interesting owner.

Then we took the 45-minute drive on the expressway back to the hotel and it is now time to say goodnight.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs from Fort Lauderdale

Lunch

A Bar in Little Havana

Buying cigars from our new friend!!

The Mango was great