Wednesday - 28 January 2015 - Fort Lauderdale, FL

Phil was up very early and downstairs planning our day.  He brought me coffee about 6:30 am as I was checking e-mails.  Part of Phil's plan was a breakfast place called Harbor Café -- a twenty minute walk from the hotel.

We set out on a crisp Florida morning -- and found this wonderful coffee shop tucked into a corner of a strip mall.   We had a great breakfast costing half of what we spent in the hotel yesterday.  

Exploring Fort Lauderdale Beach using the "Sun Trolley" is on our agenda today. For $3pp we can hop on and off all day.   The trolley takes us over the Inland Waterway and continues along A1A to the end of Fort Lauderdale Beach.  We get off the trolley to walk a beautiful stretch of the beach with trees set back by the road.    Our task today is to find plastic water bottles for the ship since Holland America charges $3-$5 for bottled water in the room.  However, you can fill up your own plastic bottle in the cafeteria anytime.

Pat on Fort Lauderdale Beach

 It is breezy but a beautiful walk  --- stopping in several beach shops but no luck with the water bottles -- did I mention we don't want to spend more than $5-6.   Cutting to the chase -- we found exactly the right water bottle at CVS --- and just $5.99.

Now we begin searching for the "Elbo Room" -- a beach bar established in 1938 but made famous in the 1960 film "Where the Boys Are" starring Connie Frances.   I lived in this area for a few months in the spring of 1967 and with my roommate frequented the Elbo Room.   However -- we were not successful in finding it so apparently it was not meant to be.  

View of Bahia Mar Yacht Basin -- Yellow Boat is Water Taxi

Deciding it is time for lunch -- we take the trolley to the Bahia Cabana -- self-described as "The Last Place in Fort Lauderdale with a Key West Setting" -- it overlooks the Bahia Mar Yacht Basin -- talk about opulence.   The food is good -- the atmosphere is casual and we are hungry -- all the stars are aligned for a good lunch.

Back at the hotel we start repacking for the move to the ship tomorrow and I work on this blog. 

Phil Leaving Bahia Cabana Restaurant

Dinner tonight is a short walk from the hotel to the Bimini Boatyard -- an active crowd is in the bar for happy hour.  We opt for the dining room which is not much quieter but the food is good.

We enjoyed our time in Fort Lauderdale but are looking forward to boarding the Statendam.

Thanks for Reading!

Pat

Tuesday - 27 January 2015 - Fort Lauderdale, FL

Phil and I we were able to get out of Boston a day early just before Juno made a mess of things in the northeast.   Our hotel is the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina  -- we have a room directly on the Inland Waterway also known as the "New River" in this part of Florida.  Parked just across the waterway from our room is the 280 foot "Seven Seas" -- owned by Stephen Spielberg.  I understand it is for rent at $1 million a week.

On Monday, after familiarizing ourselves with our new neighborhood and asking the hotel concierage a million questions we formulated our schedule for the next couple of days.

This morning after breakfast -- we took a two hour walk from our hotel to the 15th Street Fisheries, a restaurant we could see from the hotel but because of the canal system required a long walk all the way around through a neighborhood to get there.  It was a good walk --- we were able to check the place out for future reference.

Back at the hotel we purchased water taxi tickets -- $21 pp allows us to hop on and off all day until 10:30pm.   Boarding just outside the hotel -- we are going to Stop 3 -- The Shops and Restaurants at Las Olas.    The water taxi ride was wonderful as the guide pointed out who owned several of  the mansions lining either side of the river.  The opulence is something I did not expect -- it is everywhere.  Single-story houses built 50+ years ago get torn down -- the lot sells for $10 million -- an enormous replacement house is built  -- then to top it off  a 150 foot yacht is moored along side the mansion.  We passed one house recently built at a cost of $70 million..   

At Las Olas Boulevard Phil and I walked up one side and down the other.  Most of the shops were not for me --- even the consignment shop looked too expensive.   We decided to move up the river on a water taxi shuttle to the RiverWalk (which has seen better days) but we settled on Briney's Irish Pub for lunch -- very good. 

During an after lunch walk we discovered the Riverwalk Historic District -- just over the railroad tracks.   The New River Inn stands out in this collection of  buildings as it must have when it was built in 1905.  After making inquiries I decided to take the docent-led tour of the inn and other buildings on what is known as Fort Lauderdale.    Keith, the Docent, was terrific and I was his only customer for the 2:00 pm tour.   I learned quite a bit about the history of the area and the people responsible for getting the railroad down this far which made all the difference in the world.  The other surprising tidbit is that the major crop at the turn of the 19th Century was tomatos --- that is how this area became so populated.  

After the tour I met Phil at the water taxi for the shuttle back to Stop 3 and the water taxi to the Hilton.  There was more of a wait going back but eventually we arrived in time for a short respite before reboarding the water shuttle going north to meet my cousins Chuck and Coleen for dinner.   This time the sun was setting and darkness was falling as we cruised along --- it was a very pretty sight.

Coleen, Phil, Pat -- Chuck in front at Kaluz

 Our visit with Chuck and Coleen was a lot of fun --- we had a glass of wine at their house which they completely gutted and renovated to perfection.   We then had dinner at Kaluz on the water -- we dined outside but with the heaters it was quite comfortable and the food was great particularly Chuck's favorite dessert which we all shared.

As Chuck dropped us off at the hotel -- he promised that they would come to Boston when the weather improves.

We had a great day in Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks for reading!

Pat