More of Miami and a Visit from Jake

We're still in Miami, waiting for some strong east winds to settle down before traveling further south to the Keys. We're enjoying the fresh produce here, some of which we've gotten from open air markets. The peaches are wonderful and that's such a treat in January!

We had a wonderful treat this past week - Jake came to visit us for a couple of days! One day we went to visit the Wolfsonian Gallery in South Beach. This Gallery has an incredible collection of art and design from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century - books, posters, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and other artifacts of this period. Here's Jake in the art deco style elevator, complete with gargoyles overhead.

 The ceiling of the Wolfsonian is intricately decorated and there are huge chandeliers in one hallway.   Even the Interior of the women's restroom is incredible... 

The Gallery has a marvelous collection of posters designed by the Austrian graphic designer Julius Klinger, whose work was very popular in the 1920s and 30s in Berlin, Vienna and other urban European cities.

Julius Klinger and his wife are pictured below.  They considered themselves "citizens of the world'. Then Germany annexed Austria in 1938, and shortly thereafter Jews were classified and transported to extermination camps. Julius and Emilie Klinger were deported in June 1942 and killed seven days later.

In addition to Klinger's work, the Wolfsonian has a truly vast collection of other items from the "modern" era. This is a model steam engine on display in one of the hallways

 Decorative wall panels

 Objects of daily life from the 1930s that are very contemporary in style

 A vacuum cleaner

 Coffee pot and carafe

 Glass block food storage containers

Another evening we walked along Lincoln Mall, stopping for a wonderful couple of seafood appetizers and a glass of wine at a small Peruvian restaurant. We strolled past the Colony Theater which was advertising new dramas starring artists from "shithole countries" (as Trump refers to them).

 The next day we went to the Perez Art Museum of Miami.  We'd intended to take Jake's recommendation to also go see the Margulies Collection in Wynwood, but we ran out of time.  More on the Margulies a bit.  After a couple of days Jake left in the early morning to catch a flight to DC. Here he is with Jim in the dinghy, and waving goodbye - we had a great time and now he knows a little bit about what our world looks like on the water!

 Yesterday we took a walk over on South Beach just to see what the sea state was on the open Atlantic ocean since that's where we'll be when we sail down along the eastern side of the Keys. The sun was lovely but the waves were still pretty sizable and the wind was gusting into the mid 20s.  Here's a photo of one of the Art Deco style hotels along the beach.

Can't see the water very well, but the walking path along the beach was super busy with Sunday traffic - everyone biking, walking, running...

This little guy was traveling in his owner's shoulder bag on the bus. He kept half falling asleep and then waking up with a jolt!

Since Jake had recommended seeing the Margulies Collection and we'd not been to the Wynwood Walls for a while, we spent one day in that area of the city.  I've included a few wall paintings here.

We had a couple of superb salads for lunch - Jim's holding a bag that pretty much covers that restaurant's philosophy on food. 

And then he saw a donut stand and couldn't resist a Snickers Donut. Yuk.

There were lots of great food carts around, and lots of music!

 More wall murals - An Elopus? An Octophant?

 Cool little shops everywhere

 This sign made us wander into the shop above :-)

Had to get a photo of this

 At the Margulies we saw lots of interesting art, like this bathroom collage...

 This huge installation made from the demolished remnants of a street in Paris

 Read this - so true!!! And sadly, so a propos America today

 The Depression Bread Line from the FDR memorial in Washington DC

 More very large installations like this one

In parting, here's a sunset from Neverland's cockpit. We're anchored in a favorite place near Belle Isle on the Venetian Causeway in Miami. What a sky!  

Fort Lauderdale to Miami

Our time at Bernardo's dock in Fort Lauderdale was lovely. We had beautiful views of sunsets from the the cockpit as we sipped wine....

We had a friendly neighbor named "Mr Blue Wiggles" who liked to wear sunglasses. There was volleyball on the beach...

 And most of the beach wasn't crowded at all!

We took our dinghy up the New River one day and saw lots of ridiculously large homes and some odd boats...

Back at Bernardo's, here are the 7 or 8 boats tied up alongside each other, Neverland being the smallest of the bunch, second from the left.

While at the dock we fixed a propane leak. I kept smelling propane in the stern locker where the two tanks are stored, which made me pretty nervous.  A leak can cause a horrific fire/explosion if the propane gets ignited accidentally with a spark. It will blow up your boat and probably kill you. We identified where the leak was by applying 50% dish detergent and 50% water until a little mass of bubbles formed (seen at the top of the photo below) and then bought a new pigtail to replace the leaking one between the regulator and tank. Boats are a constant source of problems to solve. Problems often seem to crop up on weekends or holidays where the places with the replacement parts you need are closed. And those places are often far enough away to require renting a car to get what you need, once the store is open. Or you have to wait to have new parts delivered to you. A big chunk of what "living the dream" is all about is keeping everything working the way it has to.  

One day we went to visit the Bonnett House and Gardens. We weren't terribly impressed with the garden or house but here are a few photos anyway.

This flowering shrub is called "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" because the blooms first appear for one day as deep purple, then the next day turn lilac, then the next day turn white.

 Here is the house - not particularly attractive  :-)

On the way home, as we walked over a bridge, we saw some iguanas sunning themselves below us. This one was about 5 feet long.

We took several dinghy rides on the numerous canals that criss-cross Fort Lauderdale. When I posted this on Instagram as the Halloween Boat (black and orange), our friend Hayden commented "I hate that when my boat blocks the water view from my house"

Some of the catamarans here are so wide they almost block traffic in the canals. We have two captain friends, Ursula and Dane, who delivered a huge catamaran this past year and remarked that it felt like driving a wobbly tennis court. I can believe it.

Eventually it was time to leave Lauderdale, so on a beautiful sunny day with a north wind behind us, we exited the inlet and sailed the short distance to Miami along the coast. We arrived in Miami just as a large barge was making its way out Government Cut. There was a lot of traffic in both directions as we entered the harbor where huge ships are being loaded and unloaded and cruise ships await their passengers.

 Here's the barge that we had to avoid on our way into the harbor.

 And a cruise ship - there were 4 or 5 of these in a row.

We anchored a few days ago just off the Venetian Causeway near Belle Isle, which is pretty close to South Beach. It's easy to get around by dinghy, on foot, and using public transportation like buses and Metrorail. Of course, South Beach is known for its Art Deco buildings, like this one...

 We plan to visit the Wolfsonian Museum - more photos to come for that.

Yesterday we walked through the nearby outdoor space for the Holocaust Memorial, always a sobering experience.

 This is part of the large monument above

 A curved walkway around the central pool has etched names of Jews who died in the Holocaust and etched photos and descriptions of the events that cost 6 million lives.

On a brighter note, we then took a bus to Calle Ocho in Little Havana for an afternoon of wandering through brilliant colors everywhere we looked and and Cuban music at every step.

Lots of shops

 This guy sat all afternoon outside one of the cigar stores, smoking and watching folks go by.

Our favorite place was the outdoor plaza for dominos and chess games. These guys were SERIOUS players!

We had lunch in this bar/restaurant. At the bar, the glasses were filled with mint and all lined up for making Mojitos

 This was lunch - delicious!

 There are lots of murals on the walls along the streets

 A dedication of sorts to Frank in one bar/art gallery

 More murals

And I loved these! Every trash can and planter was decorated with Cuban themes - here are a few examples.

Gotta got help Jim get the propeller free from what looks like a floating piece of cloth that's gotten itself wrapped around the prop in the wicked current here. Never a dull moment.  More to come as we explore more of Miami!