First Week Back

The first week back is over and done with! Phew!  It was hard work, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  We've thrown ourselves back into our social lives, rather than rest up, which has helped.  I went out for dinner on Wednesday evening with some friends, then we both went over to our friends house on Friday for a games night (Linkee and Trivial Persuit - Linkee is the only game ever that i'm really good at!).  Matt met one of his friends for ice cream and a catch up on Saturday, and I went out in the evening to Dusseldorf for cocktails, which was really nice.  The place we went to was a bit pretentious.  The menu was in an old casette box.  But the staff were friendly and the drinks were tasty.

Today, we are just having a relaxing day.  I'm sorting out my photos, and they are on the blog now.  I've got them down from 4225, to 785.  I'll have another sort through of ones to show people, and ones for the photo album.  I love doing photo albums, so it's a nice project to keep me busy.  

At school, I only have one more week before I go on residential, so i've got lots to do.  Matt's preparations for his trip to Swaziland are in full swing too.  Mum and Dad are coming to visit next week, and I can't wait to see them!

Home Sweet Germany

We're back in the swing of things now, nearly a full week back into the summer term.  The beginning of the week was exhausting, but now we feel about the same amount of tired as everyone else!  It helped that the weather is beautiful here.  I went out for dinner and drinks with some pals on Wednesday night, and Matt is playing football today after school, which helps.  Good company always makes you feel better.

This post was really just to let you know that I am slowly starting to put some photos up on the holiday blog posts.  Its a slow job, as i'm deciding on photo album piccies at the same time, but keep checking below to see the days that have been updated.  

Day 20 Going Home

I can't believe it's time to go home today!  Still, our flight wasn't until 10pm, so we had the whole day.  We got up early and had a kayak around the bay for half an hour.  Then we had breakfast watching the sea, and Matt saw a dolphin!  I'm gutted that I missed it, but pleased that Matt saw one.  We set off to the Turtle Hospital, which was on Marathon Key about half an hour away from our Key.  The hospital was really good.  They do fantastic work, and it's all funded by donations.  The poor turtles have been injured by boats, or predators, or have 'bubble butt' where they get air bubbles under their shells, so they can't submerge.  It looks very uncomfortable!  They have 14 permanent residents, which we fed, including one very rare type of turtle, which only surfaces once every few hours to breathe.  I managed to get a photo of him!  We fed the permanent residents, who are so funny.  They can sense the vibrations of the food when you throw it in, and instantly turn around and bee-line for it.  We spent some money in the shop to support the work they do, and then hopped back in the car to go over the road to a Cuban cafe.  Matt had a Cuban sandwich, and I had a chorizo burger, which was delicious!
 

We got back into the car, and headed to what has been voted one of the most beautiful beaches in America 5 times!  It really was stunning.  We could walk over a bit of the old disused railway, and Matt had a swim in the wonderful turquoise water.  It was seriously hot, way over 30 degrees!

We stayed for a couple of hours, then began the drive back to Miami airport.  We stopped off for some Key lime pie along the way, which was delicious.

We got to the airport at 7, just in time to return the car (I miss it already).  We got some food and a magazine, and settled in for a few hours of waiting.

Iberia is not a brilliant airline!  You get as much leg room as on one of their short haul flights, so Matt was very uncomfortable.  I had watched an entire film, before they had even got round to us with drinks.  The staff weren't particularly friendly, and the food wasn't great.  I wouldn't fly with them again.  But at least the flight was only 8 hours.  I did manage to sleep for a bit.  I slept for the entire flight from Madrid to Dusseldorf.  Matt managed to watch the football while we were in Madrid airport, so he was happy.

We travelled for nearly 24 hours, so are very tired.  Our lovely friends picked us up at the airport, and we managed to stay awake until 11, before going to bed.

Today, we got up at a reasonable time, and i'm only just beginning to get tired now.  We went into Duisburg to the harbour where there was a market, with some friends for lunch, which was nice.  The weather here is lovely at the moment, which has really helped.  I'm actually really looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow, and at least there are no children to worry about.  I think it's going to be an exhausting week though!

Day 19 Key West

Today we got up nice and early to start our day off with a paddle board along the key front. Turns out, im terrible at paddle boarding! Still, i did it kneeling down which isn't standing, but its still socially acceptable. Matt sat cross legged on his, which is very uncool. We did manage to stand up for about 3 minutes. Its hard work. Breakfast was pastries on the waters edge, laid on by the hotel.

I drove to Key West, which took about an hour and 40 minutes. The scenery was beautiful along the way, and the bridges are really cool to drive on. Alongside the 7 mile bridge is a battered train line, which was destroyed 50 years ago in a hurricane. Its just been left as it was. So many houses are wooden, it makes you wonder how the keys would cope if another hurricane were to strike.

Key west was a real surprise. Its very pretty and has a huge amount of charm. I thought it would be comparable to south beach prices, but it was actually quite reasonable. (Maybe we would think differently if we hadnt come via Miami). We had a wander around Mallory square, a famous square right on the waters edge.  Then wandered into the Shipwreck Treasures museum.  Its full of all the things that 'wreckers' found from shipwrecks around the Keys.  They would find about 1 a week, and it made many of the millionaires whose descendants still live on the keys today.  They had a huge block of silver (said to be cursed), that we could (try) to lift up, and lots of coins, tabacco, ivory, bottles of all sorts of exotic things.  It was very interesting.  They had a tower that we climbed up, which gave us a good view of Key West.

 We had lunch at a little food stand.  I had fried coconut shrimp (again), Matt had a lobster roll, and we shared fried conch.  This is a local delicacy, and the islanders call themselves the conks.  It is like a sea urchin, and was quite tasty.

Then we had a wander to the most southern point in the USA.  We had to queue for a while to get a picture, but it's pretty cool.  It says 90 miles to Cuba on it too.

On the way back we happened to wander past a sign that said this way to the Little White House, and we decided to have a look.  It was a beautiful wooden building that was the summer residence for President Harry Truman.  I think 5 presidents stayed there, but Harry Truman visited 11 times, while President, and another 5 after.  We decided to go on a tour, so that we could see the inside of the building.  Our tour guide, Jimmy was fantastic.  He used to deliver papers to the building opposite, and to the crew on the Presidential ship that came to the Keys for communication purposes, every time Truman visited.  Jimmy managed to get the captain to show him around the ship once too.  He even sold Truman a paper once, when he was taking a walk through the streets of Key West.  He was so enthusiastic about Truman, and told us all the great things that Truman did as president. All of the furniture and fittings in the house were used by Truman and his staff.  It was a great tour, and one of the highlights of the trip.

On the walk back we stopped off in a restaurant for a Mahi Mahi fish taco, which was delicious, then on to Mallory square to watch the wonderful sunset.  There was a proposal on a sign on a boat in the bay, and a plane with a lovey message for two people who had got married that day.  We were chatting to some of their wedding party, who were standing next to us.  The sunset was stunning.  There were stalls and street entertainers in the square, so after the sunset we watched a performer, who was doing hand stands on 5 stacked chairs, and juggling fire balls.  Very cool.

I drove back home after, and we sat and watched the sea and the stars for a while before going to bed.  A really good day.  I wish we were staying in the Keys for longer.

Day 18 The Keys

Today it was time to say goodbye to Miami and move onto the keys. We had a couple of hours drive, seeing so many police cars - the arrest of 2 women in a sports car, literally being handcuffed and put in the back of a police car, flashing police lights rushing into a motel, a crumpled car from a crash, and a seriously heavily armed escort of 6 vehicles for a prisoner transport. Exciting times for Miami!

We stopped in a Dennys diner on the way for brunch. Matt had a ham, sausage and egg sandwich with pancakes, and i had a hot plate with chorizo, peppers, potatos and fried eggs on top. Delicious.

The drive down the keys was fun, going over the bridges, being surrounded by crystal clear turquoise water on both sides. We are staying at Edgewater Lodge on Long Key. We are literally right on the water front in a lovely apartment. I am on the balcony at the moment, and would have posted a photo, as it was stunningly beautiful a minute ago, but now its chucking it down...

It did stop raining, and we sat outside on our balcony soaking up the sun. For dinner, we drove to our neighbouring key to a restaurant called the Island Fish Co. We got a waterfront table and watched the sun go down, sharing coconut shrimp. Matt then had snapper and i had more shrimp! A really lovely evening, in a beautiful setting.

Day 17 Miami Marlins Baseball

Today we had a very long sleep-in. Despite very loud trucks driving diwn our alleyway at 7.30, we managed to fall back to slerp and had a lazy morning. We went back to the diner for brunch, including strawberry, coconut and banana milkshakes. We both had omelettes with toast and potatoes, mine was a greek omelette and matts had chilli in it. Delicious.

We went for a walk, south along the beautiful beach after lunch, dipping our toes in the crystal clear water. We walked all the way to the end of thd south beach island, to a pier at tbe end, with wonderful views of the beach and ocean. Its a manatee viewing area, but unfortunately all we saw were schools of tiny fish, and some interesting long fish feasting on the tiny ones.

We stopped for a coke and ice cream (srrawberry, mango and macaroon flavour) on the way back, tben back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to the baseball this afternoon. I cant believe our time in Miami is nearly over already. Cant wait for the keys though!

The baseball was a lot of fun, despite beers being $14 each. Thats Miami though. I thought i would get bored but its such an easy game to understand, and the atmosphere was fun, the 4 hours it lasted for flew by. There are meant to be 9 turns at batting per team, but Americans dont do draws so we ended up with 11, Miami narrowly musding out on the win. They played awfully at first, so it was quite something to pull off a 7 - 7 draw. Then it all went wrong. It was nearly midnight when it finished!it was allvery patriotic. They even had jets fly over because it was the opening match of the season. The jet pilots came into the stadium later, and there was a gigantic American flag carried out by what must have been 100 people. The USA secretary for homeland security threw the first pitch, and a Miami police captain sung the national anthem. It was great. The UK could benefit from a bit more patriotism.

Matt bought a jersey with his name on it and i got a cap, to get in the spirit. Its like a proper event,with vendors selling things in the aisles, and greasy foid for sale. Because it was our first match, we got 'first Marlins match' badges and certificates. They even swap your printed tickets for actual ones after the game so you get a souvenir. I really got into it, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. We had a lovely first day on the job taxi driver on the way back, called Edwinwho used to live in Germany on an army base.

Day 15 Everglades

Today we booked an everglades half day tour for the morning. We waited as instructed outside our hotel at 9.45 but when tbe bus stoped down the road our names weren't on the list. We got some excuse about the tour being overbooked, but our hotel had phoned and booked us in infront of us the day before. Nevermind, we booked onto the afternoon tour instead, and went for a wander, and a cheeky burger king (the cheapest food around).

We got onto the 12.45 bus, that drove around for ages picking up other people. Our driver was a maniac. Ithought we were going to crash. Seriously! Anyway, we drove through Aligator alley, and i saw a gator on the side of the road. Matt was asleep so he missed it!

We made it to Gator Park in one piece, just about! First we went on an air boat tour of the glades, which was cool. The boats are big but can go in 3 inches of water. They were in 3 feet of water today and are concerned that the rise could eventually destroy the wildlife in the glades. The boat goes so fast, it was really fun. We saw two types of turtle, a talapia fish on its nest and 2 gators. We got lucky and chose the right side of the boat to sit on for once. When we got back, there was a talk with a guy training lots of animals to go into schools for talks (him talking, not the animals), so we saw a toad, scorpian, cockatoo, baby gators and big gators! The animals seemed to be treated well  and the talk was very interesting. We then had our photos taken with Larry, the baby gator, who was quite happy to be passed around to earn his living.

We survived the bus journey back, and found a proper 50s American diner for dinner. I had a burger and chocolate peanut milkshake, Matt had a full rack of ribs.it was gigantic. We got some hot cookies from a cookie bar and some beer to take back to the room (i got chatted up while Matt was queuing for beer) and watched 5 glorious hours of Wrestlemania. Americans love the wrestling, just not those in Miami. Unfortunately we coukdnt find a bar to watch it in, most had never heard of it. The only other person interested was the hotel receptionist, whom we had a very long conversation with about the joys of wrestling!

Day 16 Miami Beach

Today we spent the day on the beautiful Miami beach. We rented a wind shelter for $20 and relaxed on the soft white sand, looking out over the most beautiful turquoise sea i've ever seen. It did rain a tiny bit, but we had our shelter, so we were fine. Because the weekend is over, lots of places had deals and happy hours on, so we went back to the Irish bar for half price drinks, then to a restaurant on ocean drive called Carlisle for a shared fish platter. It had a white fish, salmon, shrimp, and lobster with mash and garlic vegetables. It was delicious, and a bargain at $55 instead of $110! On to a sports bar to watch the college basketball final, then we bought some hot cookies and beer to have while watching the monday night wrestling. A very nice, relaxing day. We have really grown to lime Miami. Its nice to be able to both have a drink, and to walk everywhere, unlike in Orlando.

Day 14 Miami

Today was just a travelling day really. We packed the last of our things and set off fir a Ponderosa breakfast, which was delicious. Matt had another steak, of course!

Then we set off on our 4 hour journey to Miami. I did about 2 hours 45, the first part of the journey. Turns out motorway driving is just as boring here as in England. The whole time was literally one road! There was lots of traffic going into South Beach, but at least we were in the right sort of car! We've seen all sorts, Ferarris, Lamborginis, dodges, all sorts of fabulous cars. Our hotel is nice, and really near the beach, but our window looks out onto a beautiful.... allyway. Lovely. Oh well, the room is nice.

We went for a wander along the beach front, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the noisy bars, thousands of people and very high prices everywhere. It was Saturday, so that explains it. We ended up going a few roads away from the beach to a slightly more reasonable restaurant called Naked Tacos. We had sangria, Matt had prawn fajitas. I had shrimp and lobster quesadillas. Delicious.

We wandered down the beach looking at the wonderful art deco style buildings. The atmosphere is electric. Love it here!

Day 13 Aquatica

It wouldnt be a holiday without getting sun burnt at a water park. We did exactly this, in spectacular style!

We arrived early and enjoyed a couple of hours without big crowds, when we could go on all the water slides without queuing for more than 10 minutes. Most we walked straight on to. There were lots of double rubber ring ones, including a straight 300ft one, that Matt went down backwards! There was a bowo one where you go round and round it until you plop out of a hole in the middle. There was a tube slide that was clear and goes through a dolphin tank. It was quite a small tube, so i was too busy being claustrophobic to notice the dolphins!

We went on the lazy river, and in a huge rapids ring where you wear a life jacket and just float along. There was a wave pool too. We got an all you can eat and drink all day buffet, which was great, you could go up whenever you liked throughout the day, and they had a good selection of food.

It was about 4pm when we realised that we were burnt, Matt worse than me, as usual, so we left for home, going via Walmart for aftersun. We really are quite badly burnt!

We stayed in this evening and ate all the leftover food for dinner, cereal, oreos, cheese, crisps etc. Then did some packing, and watched Meet the Parents before an early night. Cant believe this was our last day in Orlando. Off to Miami tomorrow, cant wait.