Joe and Jamie's Blog

Ok here it is, finally posting this.

Miami Beach lived up to its reputation of having a crazy night light and HOT. Every day we were down there the temperature was above 85 degrees, no matter what time of the day. Nothing cools off Miami, not even the rain they get everyday. It was so beautiful down there, clear water and skies to enjoy, perfect beaches, tons of tourists, bars and clubs. One downfall for all this perfection is the prices. Boy was I not prepared at all for crazy markups on everyday items. I would have to say everything was generally 2 or 3 times more expensive then here at home. Not a real biggie, just an eye opener at first.

We spent most of the days on the beach or walking around taking in the sites and art deco style buildings they are also famous for. Scouting places to eat was fun since there are so many choices. There are a few main roads to go down on South Beach where everything is, Ocean Drive with all the clubs, bars, and restaurants, Lincoln Road which is the nice pedestrian mall, Collins Ave which many hotels and shops are, and Washington Ave which is even more shops and businesses. Most of our nights were spent walking up and down Ocean Drive picking out a place to eat/drink. I thought it was really cool how the whole street had tables on the sidewalk so as you walked down the street you were essentially walking through each restaurant and bombarded by hostesses asking you to look at the menus. After awhile it got to be annoying but we were pros at just ignoring them after a few days.

One part that did suck on this trip was the location of our hotel. The Fontainebleau is an awesome hotel, but its 30+ blocks from South Beach so we took a cab each day to get down there. That ate into our fun budget a bit too which ticked me off a bit at first. We never did go north of our hotel, we just kind of ran out of days really. Besides the partial nude beach up there, not sure if there was anything else we missed out on. I guess we’ll just have to go back.

Ok, back to Ocean Drive. The restaurants on there are average. They all sell about the same stuff for about the same price. Nothing really stood out. Eating down there is great because you get to watch all the different kinds of people walking by. Thousands of people walk by at night time, so you can just imagine how amusing it can get. Typically we would walk along the beach after stuffing our faces and then stroll back over and find a place to have some drinks and enjoy the Miami night life. We stopped at places like the Clevelander and Ocean’s 10. We also ate at some spectacular places like Emeril’s (yup, the bam guy), Gotham Steak, and Texas de Brazil (an awesome Brazillian steak house). I don’t think I have ever eaten in such fancy places before. All three had over the top service and the atmosphere was spectacular. If you go to Miami Beach, eat at all three places.

Our first full day there we went on a duck boat tour. I figured it was a good way to figure out where everything was. The best part of the tour was when we went into Biscayne Bay and saw all the islands. On these man made islands are all the famous people’s houses like Hulk Hogan’s house he lost in the divorce (ouch!), Puff Daddy, the Scarface house, the CSI Miami house (from the first season, they don’t even film in Miami anymore!), the Miami Vice house, Steffi Graph’s house, and some really rich guy that built a $50 million dollar mansion with only 3 bedrooms, each about 4,000 square feet, isn’t that nuts?. Back on land we learned where the Miami Ink tattoo shop was, the old boxing club that Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and George Foreman all trained in (it’s a damn bank now, don’t see how a place with that reputation would go out of business), and the regular old convention center where Muhammad Ali won his first Heavyweight Championship of the World title in 1964 and President Nixon gave his acceptance speech (blame the tour guide if I’m wrong). I’m glad we went on this tour because we would have never traveled to the Bay to see those houses, I didn’t even know they were out there! As you can tell I pretty much just booked a trip to Miami without bothering to do any research because hey, it’s Miami, how can I go wrong?

There is a bunch of pictures to choose from, but I tried to choose the best ones to show all of you. Hope you enjoy them!

The Fontainebleau resort in Miami Beach is absolutely fabulous. It truly lived up to its four and half stars rating. Everything is very luxurious and the service is exceptional. I highly recommend this place to anyone going to Miami.

Between he beach, pools, historic bars, famous night clubs, high class restaurants, and many shops, there really isn’t much need to leave the resort! We spent most of our vacation on the beach and in the pools and it was just great, enjoyed every minute of it. When we weren’t in the water or down in the main part of Miami Beach, we went to the restaurants in the hotel. We tried most of them, there were just too many.

Gotham Steak is a great steakhouse. We got a seat right next to the kitchen, which happens to have glass walls so you can watch them prepare and cook the meals. There is also Vida which cooks more of normal home-style dishes which was nice. One restaurant we didn’t try was Scarpetta, which is supposed to be the best Italian food restaurant down there, but we just simply ran out of days to eat food. There was an outside raw bar called La Cote which we also didn’t get to try, a sandwich shop called Fresh, a Japanese food place called Blade, a Chinese restaurant called Hakkasan.

A few nights we went down the the Bleau Bar, that famous bar in the famous hotel. Now drink prices in Miami are outrageous, but hey, at least you can say you had a drink there. Most nights we left the hotel to either get dinner or walk down Ocean Drive where everyone else in Miami Beach was. We never went to the club Liv, there was always some large party going on and long lines outside with waiting people, so we went off and did other things.

We were upgraded to a room with a balcony which was cool because we spent most early mornings out there watching the massive lightening storms over the ocean. There are four towers to the hotel, the all new suite towers Trésor and Sorrento, and the original but renovated Château and Versailles. We were in the Versailles tower, tenth floor, so the balcony view was really nice. Maybe one day we can go back and afford one of those suites :). There are also a ton of conference rooms and halls. I really don’t even know how many there are but there are two floors of them, and they were packed with massive company get-aways and conferences all week. All the rooms are equipped with iMac computers which connect you to their front desk for anything you need. No more dialing the front desk, just fill out a form online of what you need and twenty minutes later its at your door, I love technology.

If I had to rate this hotel I would give it a 5 all around. It was a great experience and I would definitely stay there again if we go back to Miami. If you wish to read more on the hotel, you can visit their website at www.fontainebleau.com. They also have a hotel in Las Vegas, which we are seriously considering for vacation next year. Enjoy the photos from the hotel and the surrounding resort property.

Miami Beach is awesome.

I have so much to post about, so here is the short version.

Internet was $14 a day at the resort, so I didn’t pay for it so I couldn’t blog! Sorry but I cannot justify such a needed technology being that price per day. I know people that pay that much per month.

I’ll have everything ready to go tomorrow, backing up pictures and unpacking now. Getting tired, flight delayed 6 hours so I’m not the happiest camper right now.

Chao for now.

Jamie and I chose our vacation location early this year, due to the fact that we are traveling by plane. I don’t know why I started to look here, but it’s a spot you just can’t go wrong with.

We chose to go to Miami Beach this year. Ah yes, I cannot wait to be there. If only July can come sooner. I booked the hotel and the flight together on Hotels.com last night, got a great deal. Just for booking both we got $250 off the whole order, and two of the nights were free at the hotel. Our second choice was Ocean City, Maryland, but that was more expensive than Miami, even with us driving versus flying.

We are staying at the Fontainebleau Resort. From what I have been hearing it’s a pretty snazzy place. When it comes to hotels I go for location, not really amenities. I could care less if was a shack with a leaky roof, as long as it was right there on the beautiful beach. Who actually spends enough time in the hotel to care anyway right? Hey it’s not Poughkeepsie, its warm and on the beach, the rest is just extra really. When choosing this hotel, I did notice it was rated four and a half stars, so I think we are in for a big treat. There are four actual hotels that make up the place, including a bunch of restaurants, a spa, pools, and of course the beach for the backyard. Here is a blurb on what they offer right from their website:

Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion, Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury – 1,504 rooms and suites, 22 oceanfront acres, 11 restaurants and nightclubs including three signature name chef restaurants, 40,000-square-foot spa, and a sophisticated poolscape with private cabanas.

I was able to snag some birdseye photos of the hotel, courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth. Now one of the hotels isn’t shown yet on the map, it was still under construction the last time the satellite took a picture. It is completed now, you can see it if you watch their video on their website. Check it out.