Bon Voyage Miami!

We arrived on the ship early; flew through the entry process and made our way to the Lido Deck from some lunch. We made it just in time before the skies opened up, complete with thunder and lightning. It did clear up in order for the official sail away party. With Bloody Marys in hand, we were ready for some R&R.

Our ship: Carnival Imagination

The Lido

Downtown Miami

Awaiting our embarkation aboard the Carnival Imagination, we spent the morning walking in Miami's downtown. The weather was.....well....let's not write about the weather. Instead, here are some pictures of Miami's downtown skyline and unique architecture.

This was the view outside the Hyatt Regency Miami.

The Viceroy Hotel

And the skyline....that explains the weather...

Goin' to Miami

Off to Miami to meet Darren for a weekend cruise to the Bahamas. Arrival at Miami International was quite eventful, and quite busy. Learning from our taxi cab driver, we found out there was a "hip-hop" convention in town. Well, there may have been one, but there was also another convention that drenched Miami more than the rainstorms that weekend. Sizzle Miami was present not only all over Miami, but headquarters were at our hotel!!! For those of you not familiar, I'll allow you to experience it for yourself.

We had some time to in the evening to walk over to Bayside Market. The weather was warm and humid, but the ocean air smelled fantastic. After walking a bit, we ended up having dinner The Knife Steakhouse but not for the $25.00 all-you-can eat beef at 9:30 p.m. We found they had an outdoor, fast-food sort of stand to pick your cut of meat, sides and wine and plasticware. Let me tell you...it was the best filet I ever had, plus there was nothing better than the Malbec in plastic-rimmed cups.

We made our way back to the man brothel, but managed to snap some shots of the large Banyan Tree in the market. This tree is more than 100 years old and sits in the center of the market.