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DAY 22: WE ARE IN MIAMI

Dinner on Day 21 was a choice of Beef Wellington in the Garden Cafe buffet, or whatever they have on the menu sit down restaurants. 

We picked Manhattan, and had our third best meal of the trip.  Something about the waiter, his aides, food, talk, and length, plus a lot of Dewars White Label and Jack Daniels, plus Chardonnay, helped.  First a plate of Tostadas.
I had a corn soup with Caesar Salad.
The fried chicken was really good.  But the corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits added.
My lowest walk day so far, only 1617 steps.
Day 22.  We arrived in Miami.

The city of Miami has a population of 6.14 million, but a core of 442,241, 70% Hispanic/Latin.
  • 300 high rises, 61 exceeding 491 feet in height.
  • The cruise port is the busiest in the world in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.
  • Second most visited city/metropolitan area after New York City.
  • Named after the Myaimi River.
  • Only major U.S. city founded by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a wealthy local citrus grower from Cleveland.  She owned the land on which Miami was built.
  • Referred to as The 305 (original area code of Miami-Dade County), Magic City (for major growth after World War II), Gateway to the Americas, Gateway to Latin America, Capital of Latin America and Vice City (1980s slang term for being a major cocaine trans-shipment point).
  • Vice City and The Herons are nicknames of their Inter Miami soccer team, where the president is David Beckham, team of Lionel Messi, and league champion in 2023, featuring the color PINK.  Actually, they have three uniforms: pink at home, black away and aqua.
  • Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba in 1959, resulting in a lot of refugees into Miami.
  • Hosted both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1972.
  • Their Miami Dolphins NFL team also had an undefeated season in 1972.
  • Hurricane Andrew made landfall as a Category 5 in 1992 and was the costliest hurricane to strike the U.S. until Katrina in 2005.
  • Known for rude drivers.
  • Dangerous place for pedestrians.
  • Safe Travel Abroad ranks 96 cities, and places Miami at 55, making it a safe city with a low to medium risk of danger.  Biggest problems are pickpocketing and purse snatching in busy and tourist places.  Has a higher mugging rate than the national averarage of U.S. cities, especially at night or in dangerous neighborhoods with street gangs.  Just don't go there.  Safe places are Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne.
  • Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Miami.
    • Miami Beach sand is imported.
    • Sunscreen was invented here.  By Benjamin Green in his Coconut Grove residence in the 1940's.  Became known as Coppertone.
    • Has experienced snow only once, on January 19, 1977.
    • Home of the first Burger King.  Photo from 1954.
    • Is the hub for Art Deco Architecture.
    • Has one of the oldest buildings in the Western World.  The Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach, was built in 1141.
    • There are no basements because land is six to nine feet above sea level.

Re-boarding the Norwegian Encore was a minor pain.  As we are changing cabins, we had to re-pack.  There are 200 of us on this ship, and we waited around for several hours after vacating our room to go through customs and immigration again.  You would think this could have occurred on the ship. But some positives were that I finished this posting, and had a Bloody Mary.  The ship departs in a few hours to Europe.

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