Miami - Day 2

After breakfast on Ocean Drive we made our way to the dentist for Peter to get his tooth fixed - not what we had planned to do on holiday but as his filling had fallen out he only had half a tooth so it needed to be fixed.  Dentists in Miami are very different than in the UK - I sat on a comfy sofa in the dentists office whilst I looked through a glass wall at Peter getting his tooth sorted......which took over an hour!  Right at the end, after Peter had paid, the dentist was trying to persuade him to invest in his musical.....only in America......

It had rained first thing but it was now glorious sunshine so we made our way to the Vizcaya House and Gardens, which is a national historic landmark built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916. It took us a bus and train ride to get there but it was worth it - it is very similar to a large stately home.

The front of Vizcaya House

At the back of the house

 Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos inside the house to protect the furniture and furnishings but it gave you a good idea of how the rich lived back in early 1900's.  The house looks over the Biscayne Bay, and has a Stone Barge which acts as a breakwater against tidal surges.

The stone barge with the Biscayne Bay behind



After spending time in the house we walked around the expansive gardens which combine elements of Renaissance Italian and French designs.

The gardens at Vizcaya House

We really enjoyed our time at the house and, as it was quite a trek back to our hotel, we just chilled out for the remainder of the afternoon.  We went to the roof top bar on top of our hotel for a pre-dinner cocktail but it was closed, so we went for a cocktail down Lincoln Road Mall before moving on to dinner at a restaurant called Yardbird, which had a modern and inventive take on regional Southern food. The restaurant was really buzzing with a great atmosphere and delicious food - we shared fried green tomatoes BLT to start with, and then shared fried chicken and 'biscuits' which were actually like scones!

On top of our hotel at sunset

The Tiffany sign on top of our hotel

Drinking a 'Pornstar' cocktail which included a champagne shot!

Fried Green tomato BLT at Yardbird