What I miss most about central New England is the diversity and excitement of a big city lifestyle: our old neighborhood was less than an hour’s commute to Boston via car or public transit and if we wanted something bigger, NYC was an inexpensive 3.5 hour busride away 
faster on days we didn’t value our lives and took the Fung Wah, but I digress! 
Yesterday I told you we spent the weekend on Miami’s South Beach, and by the end of this post I’m sure you’ll agree:
We’ve found our “new” New York! 
Hustle and bustle by day….
…..and by night!
We stayed at the Catalina on Collins Ave, a hip and happening street of Art Deco style buildings for which Miami Beach is famous. What a fantastic hotel! Two restaurants open 24hrs:
Maxine’s, 24hr Restaurant
On Sunday, Maxine’s serves Jazz with coffee:
The other 24hr place is The Red Cafe, with seating in the lobby
Red Cafe Lobby Seating
And outside on informal comfortable couches:
My favorite spot for people watching..especially at 2am!
Off the lobby we spied the cutest place to relax after our Saturday shopping marathon:
Maggie’s favorite spot at the Catalina!
See the white curtained area in the back? That’s actually a queen size bed 
The hotel had them everywhere in the common areas, especially poolside:
Maggie examines the poolside beds!
There was a second pool (with full bar) on the rooftop, also ringed with beds but you’ll have to take my word for it only a wierdo perv takes pictures of people lounging in/on beds Instead, I took photos of the rooftop view:
View of Marseilles Hotel from Catalina Rooftop
Weather wasn’t the greatest, but the view sure was!
Lest you think we never left the hotel…nay…nay!!! South Beach shopping is akin to Olympic level sport, and Maggie and I are nothing if not well-trained!! Within an hour of our arrival we set out for Lincoln Road, South Beach’s answer to 5th Ave or Rodeo Drive. From Allsaints-Spitalfields to Zara, every high-end shop you can imagine is represented along this gorgeous open-air mall with sidewalk cafes and manicured parks:
A nice spot to sit a spell!
We found a Farmer’s Market where Maggie bought some unusual ethnic spices and teas!
But even here among the upper crust are signs of the Great Recession:
Who will lease this empty retail space?
We did our part for the economy, shopping at Lucky, Express, Rainbow, and a beach outfitters shop called Wings
Look! Better than a Zip lock bag !!!
Armed with my new waterproof beach wallet, we set off for the sand. Along the way, Maggie took a rest in a floating ”egg”
Isn’t this a funny “yolk?”
As we approached the beach, the weather was cloudy with a chance of doom:
The view behind us as we entered the beach club
We knew we couldn’t stay long….just long enough to snap these pics:
Time to go!!!
You might say we got a little wet!
Goodbye, “new” New York!!!! We’ll be back!!
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