DAY 4 - SECOND FULL DAY IN MIAMI

A LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY:

ANOTHER LONG MORNING WALK✔ WALKED AROUND BAYSIDE✔ ROAD THE MIAMI METROMOVER✔  NEW YEARS EVE DINNER THIS EVENING WITH FRIENDS BOB AND GLO✔

We enjoyed a relaxing evening at the Hotel last evening. Although overall hotel occupancy is quite high, the guest room floors are very quiet and we are also located at a corner location of the hotel.  We both slept very well and certainly all of the walking allowed us to easily fall asleep.  

Keith was up first, and after doing some reading and writing, he went downstairs to get some coffee to bring back to the room.  Adjacent to the coffee set-up is one of the holiday decorations on display in the main lobby of the hotel.

Later, Keith made a second trip to the lobby to bring back some coffee to the room for Anne Marie.  A short while later, we enjoyed  breakfast in our room as we had done the day before.  

We recognized the room service staff staff from not only this morning but also from yesterday from our stay at this hotel last year when we also had chose to have breakfast in the room.  They have a very seasoned staff at the hotel with many long timers and we find them to be extremely professional.  

Showers were in today's forecast and this time they were right.

After leaving the hotel we took another nice morning walk.  We walked around the Bay and then we headed over to Bayside. Bayside is a tourist destination with stores and restaurants.  We walked through the park and they were setting up for this evening where thousands will attend the New Year's Eve Party where there will be music, food, drink, and fireworks.  As we entered Bayside we saw the familiar Hard Rock Cafe on the right hand side.

Our mission was to find two items, one of which we easily found.  Portions of the mall have no roof and it began to rain.  It was the first time that it has rained while we have visited this time of year.  After walking around for awhile, we decided instead of walking back the way we came it would be better to take public transportation called the Metromover.  We have never had the need to take this transportation but even with our large umbrella we knew it would not be practical for us to walk over the bridge as the pedestrian pathway would not be wide enough to accommodate the two of us walking next to one another and others walking toward us.  The Metromover covers a relatively small area but the area we needed to travel.  It is free and two cars are attached to one another.

We figured out which line to travel based on the map.

We then took the Metromover which is elevated above ground over to Mary Brickell Village to stop off at the Grocery Store.  We then walked from there about 10 minutes to the Hotel.  It was raining on and off.

Even with the Metromover and our walk cut short due to the rain we still managed to walk eight miles.  

After having lunch back at the Hotel we were going to go to a shopping mall but decided we would do this another day.  Anne Marie did some ironing and Keith read and wrote and then we went back out on another walk.  We walked over to Mary Brickell Village.  It was not raining but windy as we walked on Brickell which is close to the Bay.  

We passed by several restaurants which were busy as were the outdoor cafes with people already celebrating.  We managed to get in another 2 miles.  We have more walking to do this evening too.

This evening we will celebrate New Year's Eve with dear friends Bob and Glo who arrived here yesterday afternoon.  We will dine at the same restaurant that the four of us dined at on New Year's Eve, 2010 and where the two of us went by ourselves last year (New Year's Eve 2012) to also ring in the start of the new year.  

We wish each of you a very safe, healthy and Happy New Year.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keith and Anne Marie