A Free Trolley Bus Ride from Little Havana to Downtown Miami

After our breakfast at the Party Cake Bakery in Little Havana, we took the public bus to downtown Miami, passing the Brickell City Centre.

The Brickell City Centre is a huge shopping mall with many brandname retail stores.

We walked by this mall on the second day of our visit here. The City Centre is modern, beautiful and spacious but with few public seats for visitors to rest their feet. From Little Havana, it was about a two miles (3.2 kilometers) walk for us. Following Southwest 8th Street eastward, the bus led us through both the neighborhoods of Brickell and downtown Miami.

Just after a few short stops, we were in downtown Miami. Since we wanted to explore Miami using the public transit system, we made some interesting discovery regarding the trolley service in this vibrant city.

The trolley rides in Miami are free for all people in Miami! It offers various routes covering quite a large area downtown and some of them pass through the Brickell neighborhood. The trolley system can be a convenient way to get around and explore different areas of the city.

On the afternoon we took the trolley bus ride, the outside temperature was at 92 degree C.

But we were sitting comfortably on the wooden seat in the air conditioned trolley taking us through the Brickell neighborhood.

Brickell is known for its upscale residential towers and luxurious homes and we came across some impressive mansions along the way.

The trolley bus stopped at the Miami City Hall located by the water. We jumped off and strolled along the waterfront.

Taking a free ride on the Miami's trolley bus, we were able to take in the sights and enjoyed the architectural diversity that the area has to offer. We had a great time exploring the various areas in the downtown area Miami. R.T. Miami, Florida

Delicious Cuban Sandwiches at Party Cake Bakery in Little Havana, Miami

After E. said goodbye to us early in the morning in the hotel, he left for the airport and flew back to the west coast. We were on our own from Wedneday on to continue our vacation in Miami. Since our hotel was located within walking distance to Little Havana, we walked to a few restaurants in the area during our stay in town. One of the places we visited - the Party Cake Bakery, located on Calle Ocho and SW 13 Ave., was one of our favourites. We started off our vacation with just the two of us at this authenic Cuban cafe. The Party Cake Bakery is a good size eatery with a nice ambience. It serves its customers with a variety of mouth watering Cuban sandwiches, pastries and drinks.

For Less than US $10.00, customers could enjoy a tasty and satisfying breakfast or lunch. We heard so much about Cuban sandwiches that what better time to have one in an authenic Cuban restaurant than in Little Havana?

Having learned in our travel that the food serving sizes in America were quite generous most of the time, we ordered a Cuban sandwich and coffee. The Cuban sandwich was prepared with fresh sliced ham, shredded prok, top with Swiss cheese, and shredded cabbage served between two slices of freshly baked toasted bread. Yes, the serving was generous!

My husband and I shared it for lunch. It was delicious! It beats eating at McDonalds anytime. The Party Cake Bakery is one of the stops on the Little Havana food tour. Hardly twenty minutes had passed by while we were in the cafe, two tour buses full of tourists unloaded their tour groups here.

The tour groups came into the cafe, were given a bit of history about the restaurant. Each participants of the tour group was served a guava pastry and a cup of cold water.

The Party Cake Bakery is an American dream came true examplifing the many dreams and hopes of the immigrants landing in the United States.

A happy ending true story that with determination and hard work, one's dream can be achieved in the U.S. RT Party Cake Bakery Little Havana Miami

Dinner at a Beautiful Biscayne Bay Restaurant with a Spectacular Oceanfront View in Miami

After visiting to the Linclon Road open air mall in the Miami Beach area, we kept walking with the assistance of our son's GPS. This was a restaurant recommended by our son's friend in Miami and it was supposed to be a very nice place.

We walked along the ocean front and did a quick tour of the area. I was surprised to learn that the population of Miami is only about 450,000.00 people, much smaller than our home town of Toronto's 3.00 million people.

Arriving at the restaurant located within a nice hotel, we walked through a long narrow path surrounded by tall trees on both sides with some openings leading to rooms each with its own small patio separated by a curtain.

This gave the hotel room occupants some privacy while restaurant guests walking past their rooms. We did a quick tour of the beautiful garden retreats each with its own comfortable cosy outdoor furniture.

Situated right by the Biscayne Bay, the restaurant allowed diners a spectacular view of the ocean.

With the light breezes blowing on our faces and surrounded by water on three sides, we were transported to a completely different place. We escaped the scorching Miami sun and the 92 degree heat for a little while.

As the sun started to go down, we could see the bright lights of the downtown skyscrapers from across the bay. It was breathtaking! Though secluded in its location and away from the busy downtown area with a pricy menu, the restaurant had a nice ambience and was quite busy on a Tuesday evening. We ordered our drinks, followed by a light dinner. The service staff was friendly; the dishes were nicely presented and delicious, but the portions were surprisingly small.

We enjoyed our dinner at a upscale restaurant by the Biscayne Bay area and it was a pleasant and memorable experience! Since it was E.'s night in Miami, he wanted to go to another venu but we were too tired to go with him. So we ordered our own UBER taking us back to our hotel while he headed up to another place recommended by his Miami friend. RT Biscayne Bay, Miami

Lincoln Road in Miami Beach - A Pedestrian Friendly Open- Air Mall

We visited the visitor centre at Miami Beach and asked what were the must visit places in the area.

We were informed that that Lincoln Road should be on our must visit place list as it is a vibrant and lively area with a lot to offer.

After our visit to the Art Deco Historic District, we took a leisurely stroll down Lincoln Road, a pedestrian-friendly street, also known as the "Fifth Avenue of the South."

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful architecture, colourful scupltures placed almost on every street corner, and lively atmosphere.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to explore the shops on Lincoln Road where a variety of shops, ranging from high-end designer stores to unique boutiques selling different kinds of fashion wear, accessories, and souvenirs.

Visitors are bound to find something that catches their eyes.

We also discovered many outdoor cafes and restauranthere and an abundance of options for dining along Lincoln Road.

We ordered a coffee and had a delicious snack, relaxed and did some people-watching. We walked past the Lincoln Road Mall.

This open-air shopping mall features more than 200 retail stores, restaurants, galleries, and theaters and even a church!

Lincoln Road is known for its vibrant nightlife.

As the sun goes down, the area comes alive with bars, clubs, and live music venues.

If you're in the mood for some entertainment, there are plenty of options to choose from.

We had a fantastic time exploring Lincoln Road with our son. A great time indeed!

RT Lincoln Road, South Beach Miami, Florida

Beautiful Bygone Era Buildings in Art Deco Historic District in Miami, Florida

Tuesday was the last day of E.'s stay in Miami and he would be flying back to his home in the west coast while we would be staying on for a few more days since we already paid for our hotel room here. Though I was hoping for an early start in the day, we didn't get going until well after 3p.m. E. told me that he was biten by mosquitos so badly that he had a hard time falling asleep. I have to make a note of that and remember to bring some insect replellents when we go to some hot tropical places with him.

One thing that we learned to do on this trip was installing the UBER application on my cell and ordering an UBER anytime for ourselves. We've found that very convenient. Still keeping our social distance, we took a different Uber and went to the Art Deco Historic District in Miami.

We strolled down the palm tree lined street with numerous outside restaurants and their waiting staffers waving their menus and beckoning us to go to their eateries.

The place was really busy crawling with tourists and it had a vibrant and lively vibe. Though the place was busy and full of people, we were surprised to find that it was kept very clean and free of litters or broken bottles. The Miami beach/ art deco distrcit has a different feel to it.

In many American cities, we often see fairly new concrete modern buildings or we would see old run down houses in the older section of towns.

The Art Deco Historic District is made up of 800 plus buildings and structures build between 1923 -1943. I have never seen so many beautifully well restored buildings together in the bygone era in one place.

Thanks to the efforts of Barbara Baer Capitman who found the Miami Design Preservation League and worked tirelessly to preserve and restore the colourful buildings to their original glory!

Visiting the district brought back many of my childhood memories when I was in Asia and these types of bulidings were common structures where my family were at the time.

R.T. Art Deco Historic District Miami, Florida

Keeping us Amused by a Hotel Cat in Miami

I was up early this morning around 8am hoping that we would get a good start for the day. I texted E. and saw if he was up or not. His first question was" Did u test yourself?" The anwser to which was no. Since we only bought 4-5 testing kits with us, we ran out of them. We went to the pharmacy closeby and bought a testing kit. While we could get testing kits for free in Canada, Americans do not. We bought one from Walgreen for US$ 10.00 each. Disappointedly, I was still tested positive with COVID, though I was completely symptoms free. I texted E. of the result; he was obviously disappointed. He said he was tired and didn't want to come with us for lunch. Our plan for this trip was to spend some quality time with our son yet due to my positive COVID result, we have to social distance and haven't spent too much time together on this trip.

We went to the San Poche restaurant around the corner of 8th street and SW 9th Ave, a pretty decent place for Columbian food.

Keeping social distance with diners at the restaurant, we ordered take out food and ate at the hotel patio hoping E. would join us.

Meanwhile, the hotel cat kept eying our lunch, milling around waiting for any scrapes falling off from the table. He was getting bold as we were enjoying our food.

With his paws hanging on the edge of the table, he circled around trying to get close to our food. At one point, he even jumped on the table trying to get a bite of our lunch. What a bold cat! We were waiting for E to come out of his room and join us for a day to explore Miami. God, I pray that he is not getting sick or something. RT Miami Day 5