Art deco

Diamond Resorts Crescent Resort on South Beach is  located in the heart of the Art Deco district from 6th Street to 23rd Street. This is where one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture in the world can be found, making for one of the most unique city skylines in the country.

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Ocean Drive is lined with Art Deco boutique hotels overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Lummus Park. Originally constructed in the 1930s after the stock market collapse, you’ll notice that these hotels take up relatively small plots of land—they’re not the sweeping resorts that Carl Fisher previously erected overlooking Biscayne Bay or that Morris Lapidus would go on to design further up the beach—and many are only three to four stories tall. This was done intentionally because if the buildings had any more floors, they’d require elevators and be much more expensive to construct.

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The Crescent has an elevator. Its tiny! When I first arrived I watched another couple struggle to get their luggage and themselves into the tiny space. It didn’t work they had to split up . The husband went up with the luggage and the wife followed when the elevator came back down with the remaining small bags.

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I explored the elevator near the end of my stay. It takes you all the way to the rooftop on the 4th floor. That could have been a nice space if there had been chairs set out but the roof was just an empty, unused area. you could look to the roofs on either side and see tables, chairs umbrellas and guests lounging but not on our roof. At least not yet. Maybe in the future.

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I used the high vantage point to try to get some pictures of a parasailer as they passed by off South Beach.

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Deck the Halls the Disney Way

All together we spent about 3 hours at the Magic Kingdom. As we headed for the boat ramps to sail to the Disney Hotels, I stopped at the ECV to let them know to take our/my name off the list. We were still #2.

By now I had started to limp as my back muscles cramped up and put stress on my sciatic nerve sending pain down my left leg. I sat off to the side while Joe stood in line. The bench wasn’t too comfortable but it provided a little relief.

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Pretty soon we boarded a cute little boat and headed to the Grand Floridian, the most opulent of the Disney hotels. We wanted to see the Gingerbread house. The walk from the boat dock is slightly uphill and for someone feeling the strain, it seemed like a looong walk.

It was worth it once we stepped inside. The lobby is magnificent and even more so with enormous the Christmas Tree right in the center.

Grand Floridian

 

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They had comfy couches and chairs and I took full advantage of it. That was immediately relief and a promise of more pain to come as the back muscles contracted. Joe left me to recover while he explored the other vantage points for photos.

Tired and sore

The Gingerbread house was everything it was built up to be, including having a load of “hidden Mickey’s” but the tree in that Lobby really was the main event. It really overshadowed the gingerbread house.

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Speaking of the Gingerbread house, it is a real gingerbread house, not a cardboard imitation. Designed by the executive pastry chef, Erich Herbitschek, this house took over 1,050 lbs. of honey, 800 lbs. of flour, 600 lbs. of chocolate, 600 lbs. of powdered sugar, 140 pints of egg whites, and 35 lbs. of spices! Oh, and don’t forget the pinch of Pixie Dust and dash of Disney Magic mixed in as well.

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Recovered somewhat it was time to re-board and head to the Polynesian Resort.

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The Eye has it or Not!

Remember when I started this series I said “Now remember, no trip is without its pitfalls. If you keep that in mind you will be able to handle the little trials that come out of no where.”

Well Our lovely day was about to hit one of those little trials. Up until this point the Orlando Eye had been slowly turning above our heads but as we finished with the SeaLife Aquarium they announced that it was temporarily down. Trying to get any information out of the desk attendants was an exercise in futility.

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We sat for a bit in the food court but pretty soon even a dedicated people watcher gets bored so we took a walk outside to see what restaurants were nearby. We might as well grab some lunch while we waited.

There wasn’t much in the “Eye” complex but we settled on the “Tin Roof”, a typical bar/pub. I can’t say it was a quiet lunch because there was construction going on and the whole side of the building was open so no sound buffering at all. The waiter was pleasant and the food plentiful. But I caught an “ear worm”. I kept hearing the B52’s sing Love Shack in my head….Tin Roof – Rusted!

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After lunch we headed back to the desk and were told the Eye was still offline and they didn’t know when it would be back online. It seems the “Eye” is down more than it’s running. From what I gathered it is something of a joke in Orlando because it is either offline or they are rescuing guests who are stuck on it.

Joe tried hard to get our money back but since we’d done 2 attractions and we’d only had to pay for 1 ticket there wasn’t much to refund. The best he could get was a promise to honor the tickets for 1 year. Of course I don’t know where we put the tickets now. I guess we’ll both have to search for them if I can get back to Orlando before the year is up.

It was time for plan B.

Big Easy City Tour

Our tour  was billed as the Super City Tour covering the French Quarter, Jackson Square, The French Market, Mansions along St Charles Ave, St Louis Cemetery, City Park  and the Universities of Tulane, Loyola and Xavier.

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Unlike the San Antonio Tour which took all day, the tour was only about 2.5 hours and consisted of driving past most of the sites. We only made 2 stops and those were both very short.

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One of the stops was at St. Louis Cemetery and with the storm clouds threatening it set the proper mood for a New Orleans Cemetery!

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The Stop at the City Park was very short. Most of tour group went into the Morning Call Cafe for coffee or to use the rest rooms. I broke from the group to try to get some pictures of the park itself. I would have loved to spend more time there.

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There were ducks in the ponds and lovely stone bridges. Trees with Spanish moss over hung the water features.

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Later in the hotel room as I browsed one of the magazine I found an article about the park. It seems that it is a high crime area which explains the quick stop. It made me sad to learn this because it is such a beautiful place.

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The ride past the universities was fun because the Students had gone all out to decorate for Halloween. The Day of the Dead was also celebrated in New Orleans so skeletons and skulls abounded.

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Sandy was looking forward to visiting the French Market as she buys  coffee or something online from there unfortunately there was no stop there. The same with Jackson Square. We just got to peak out the bus windows as we drove past.

Morning in the City of New Orleans

We were up early and ready to meet the City of New Orleans. Everyone told me I would fall in love with it.  DSC_1492_edited-1

We decided to walk to the waterfront to meet the tour bus. It was supposed to be a short walk and it probably would have been if I’d checked a walking map.  But I used my phone to google the route not really thinking that google would give me driving directions. Needless to say we added a few extra blocks to our walk!

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After an excellent breakfast buffet in the restaurant attached to the hotel we took off to find the Lighthouse that doubled as a visitor center.

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We walked and walked. We passed a wonderful park with bronze statues of jazz musicians and promised we’d come back when we could sit and enjoy the live music. I love all the decorative grill work on the balconies.

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The streets were just waking up. Large trash cans lined the sidewalks waiting for the garbage pick up.  A few joggers were out but mostly the streets were empty. Clearly New Orleans is a city of the night.

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Finally we spied the “Lighthouse” . It was located on the banks of the Mississippi. I admit that being on the banks of the Big Muddy gave me goose bumps. I hadn’t even thought about seeing the Mississippi while we were in New Orleans and there it was.

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It looked like the rain had followed us from San Antonio as dark clouds threatened while we waited for the tour bus to arrive.

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