Just imagine that at seven o'clock on a December morning you awaken to find yourself looking out the window of the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach, overlooking the vast ocean, a cruise ship disappearing over the horizon. You listen to the seductive whoosh of the surf rolling along the beach front of you. Imagine that your spouse joins you by the window and says, “Honey, look at this blue sky, look at the gulls lazily sailing by! Do you really have to go to that presentation this morning?” Imagine (of course, in reality this would never happen) that you answer, “What a wonderful idea Eve, let's. …” Well, let me tell you about all the forbidden things you might do in this fairy tale.
You might slip on your bathing suit for a quick frolic in the surf, later rubbing yourself down to chase off the shivers. Now the thought of a hot cup of coffee is foremost in your mind. Don casual clothes and your Reeboks, and off you are in your rented car. You drive south, sticking close to the shore.
Ocean Drive, in the Art Deco district, is only 25 blocks south, along South Beach, where at this early hour you should you should have no trouble parking the car. But you find that either the coffee shops in the quaint hotel-restaurants are not ready to serve you or else their fare isn't what you had in mind. So you move on. Look at the beach as you pass—it's the best within the city limits. Continuing south on Ocean Drive, you turn right, west on 5th Street, which will lead you away from Miami Beach on the MacArthur Causeway toward Miami proper. On your left you look across the channel at the cruise ships in the Port of Miami. What temptation! For only $65 you can sail that very day to the Bahamas and back (Discovery Cruises, Tel: 1-800-356-0559; or Seascape, Tel: 1-800-432-0900).
But that sounds like too much of a commitment. After all, papers are being presented in the afternoon, and you are interested in one in particular Maybe you should make plans for the evening. There are “party fishing boats,” as well as dinner cruises (the “Showqueen,” Tel. 361-9418). Or you can take one of the amphibian planes of Chalk Air Lines, which takes off from the channel and can fly you for a quick visit to Andros Island or even Nassau in the Bahamas and back. Or, just behind the hanger in the marina, a fleet of fishing boats is waiting for you. Yes, if your wallet is too heavy, consider a day with some friends on a charter fishing boat. Or ask when in the evening a party fishing boat will be leaving. All you need to bring along is your beer, poles, and bait; and instructions wait for you there. They take you at night to the edge of the Gulf stream, where they anchor for a few hours of drift-fishing.
Bayside Shopping Center, a quaint rerendering of Boston's Faneuil Hall, offers many wonderful stores and restaurants along the water's edge. You park in the parking garage. But maybe you are too early for the shops. Keep Bayside in mind for another time then. If you would like to see parts of Miami in a leisurely way, leave your car there and look for the Old Town Trolley, which, beginning at 10:00 a.m, will take you on a historical tour of Miami and Coral Gables with 13 stops that allow you to get off, stroll around, and board the next trolley. Or, for $1.00, you can take the trolley that carries you to Coconut Grove, a good place for a breakfast and strolling.
The trolley takes you along the shore route, by the renowned Viscaya, the old Italian-style villa on the bay built in the early 1900s. It is worth a visit later because of its setting in a typical hammock, as Miami's junglelike remains of forests are called. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens and is itself architecturally interesting. You get off the trolley at Mayfair, an upscale shopping mall and hotel known particularly to well-to-do South American shoppers. Just around the corner are the sidewalk cafes you have been looking for. At the Camembert on Main Highway, you can find café-au-lait and a fresh croissant with butter and jam, or more solid fare. Another spot for all kinds of croissants is just around the corner at La Petite Patisserie.
Now what shall you do on this imaginary day? The rest of the morning is before you. In the afternoon you will surely return to the meetings. Unless, of course… You have, after all, driven this far, and you do want to take advantage of your rented car. It would be a waste not to consider some excursion—not for the rest of the day, of course, only for a few hours.
If it were for the rest of the day, though, you would have to consider indulging yourself by driving farther south, who knows, maybe even to Key West. That would be a trip of about three hours for the 160 miles each way. What a wonderful trip it would be, with splendid sights all along the road, not to
mention how enticing Key West itself is.
No, you wouldn't want to drive that far. Maybe part of the way. After all, those waters are as beautiful as anything in the Bahamas, and you might not soon have another opportunity to see them. And you have heard that in less than an hour down U.S. 1 you can either be in the Everglades National Park, reminiscent of the Camargue in France and its marshes, ponds, and exotic animal life; or you can be in Pennecamp National Park in Key Largo. There you can go on a glass-bottom boat that leaves three times a day (at 9, 12 and 3 o'clock) for a two-and-a-half hour trip over colorful coral reefs full of tropical fish, or you might want to rent your own flippers and mask and join a snorkeling trip in shallow water out on the reefs. It would be fabulous!
Or imagine that you succumb to the temptation to go still a little farther toward Key West on the same highway. (There is still time before the evening plenary session.) Beyond the island of Key Largo you find Islamorada and its Theater of the Sea. There are all the usual trained dolphins, seals, and the like, but in addition you can, for a fee, actually swim with the dolphins. Axel Hoffer can tell you all about that wonderful experience!
Of course, an all-day trip is definitely out. But before the afternoon sessions begin, you might drive from Coconut Grove a little further down Main Highway, Ingram Highway, and Old Cutler Road (as its name changes along the way), and you might take a wonderful walk at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens (10901 Old Cutler Road), an arboretum in a parklike setting of tropical trees, shrubs, and orchids. Or, just before getting there, across from the entrance to Matheson Hammock, you might take a walk on a trail in the wilderness of a hammock. Should you want to see something more lively and colorful, you need to continue on Old Cutler until 57th Avenue, also named Red Road. Turn right and almost immediately left on 112th Street, and you find yourself at the Parrot Jungle. Not only are the birds fascinating, but you will walk in a small tropical rain forest. In your imaginary rented card, after breakfast in Coconut Grove, you can turn around toward downtown, but following the sign leading to the Seaquarium two miles down South Bayshore Drive, you take the Rickenbacker Causeway across the bay toward Key Biscayne. This tourist attraction is of interest not only to those who like to see trained animals, but to those who would enjoy the sights of a huge aquarium of tropical fish. For the more scientifically minded, to the left just before the Seaquarium, is Planet Ocean, a museum about the geology and oceans of, you guessed it, our planet.
How about the Everglades! True, the drive to Flamingo would offer you the rare glimpse of a distant flock of those pink birds, but the trip might keep you away from the Fountainbleu all day, especially if you stopped on some of the observation trails along the road. You can, however, visit that renowned wilderness in an area much closer to town. Find southwest 8th Street, also called the Tamiami Trail, and follow it west toward Naples. In less than half an hour, you will be at Shark Valley and its tram and tour and observation towers. Chances are that there you can see alligators or some of the tropical birds. You might be tempted to take an airboat ride, which, though noisy, will carry you over the marshes that make up most of South Florida's “River of Grass,” as the Everglades are called. Further down the Tamiami Trail you will come upon the Miccosuki Indian Reservation, where you can witness alligator wrestling.
You have bravely resisted all temptations, have gone to the meetings, and are saving it all for “dessert,” maybe in the form of a good meal out on the town. Let me pass on recommendations.
For an experience in Cuban food you absolutely must visit the area of SW 8th Street between 27th and 39th Avenues. At the Versailles you will find the most typical and reliable “normal daily fare.” Other recommended Cuban restaurants are the very republican Esquina de Tejas (the corner of Flagler Street and SW 12th Avenue) and Islas Canarias (north of Flagler Street on 27th Avenue).
Miami has a great number of other Latin and foreign restaurants, many of them located on Coral Way, starting on 12th Avenue: Mykonos, “my” Greek restaurant; a simple Bolivian one just three doors up the street named Super-Pollo; a Lebanese restaurant, Phoenicia, on the 2800 block (same side of the street); a Nicaraguan steak House, El Corral (3600 block, same side); an Argentine one across the street. A little farther up, on 39th Avenue (which, since we are now in Coral Gables, is now Ponce de Leon Boulevard, having been named, as all streets in Coral Gables are, after a person), are some very good French restaurants including Le Manoir, Sharade, and, for the steak fan, Christies, one of our better steak houses. Here you need a reservation.
During the day, when you have a couple of hours and would like to make a quick visit to Miami and its Cultural Center, take a cab to the Miami Center of the Fine Arts, where you can see an exhibit of Rodin sculptures in a new museum set apparently in Venice. Or you can visit the Historical Museum next door. We are especially proud of these new acquisitions.
If you have been so busy you haven't had time to figure out what to do here in addition to meeting with your friends and colleagues, give any of us Miami analysts a call. We would be happy to help you make your time here memorable!
Early Dates for December Meeting in Miami Beach
Be sure to make note that the Scientific Program will take place December 5-9, 1990, at the Fontainbleau Hilton Ressort and Spa in Miami Beach, Florida.