Miami Vacation Pics

So I just wanted to share quickly a few pics of my Miami vacation. As I said the weather was much cooler than expected (it started to warm up on Monday) bur really, I can't complain as we had a great time anyway.

We stayed at two different hotels, the first one was a golf resort near the airport (not much of a choice, my husband was there for work) and the second one was in Miami Beach. I had actually booked a different hotel, in South Beach and much closer to the "action" but a week or so before departure I changed my reservation and booked a room at The Palms, that in the meanwhile had become cheaper for a higher standard. I am so glad that I did! The hotel is outstanding, has a very intimate feeling while having all the perks and services of bigger hotels (SPA, pool service etc.) and, very importantly if you are staying in Miami with kids, it is elegant without trying to be "hip" (that means no loud music at the pool and no "partying" until late at night when you just want to sleep). The location is also ideal because while technically the area isn't considered South Beach anymore it is only a 5-10 minutes taxi ride away from all the South Beach restaurants and shopping and we never paid more than $10 for a cab. You can even walk to Lincoln Road Mall (around 15 blocks away but even my daughter could do it) and it is actually a very nice (and fun!) stroll because you can just follow the boardwalk along the beach (directly accessible from the hotel through a gate nested in the vegetation) instead of walking among the cars on Collins:

Don't let the sun mislead you, it was coooold

The hotel has a nice old world feeling to it with art deco details and a very lush vegetation all around. It is just very...soothing. I was enamored with the elevator mirrored doors:

The theme of the hotel is (guess?) the palms and they are everywhere, including the lobby:



The rooms were small but very well appointed. We were upgraded to a oceanfront room and this was the view from our window:

And the pool, while not very big, had once again a luxurious feeling to it, probably because of the nice touches like this big pot with palm in the background and the vegetation surrounding it:

The fanfare tank, one of my favorite swimsuits and perfect for Miami

My suitcase worked quite well, considering the unexpected cold weather. I didn't feel like I was missing something that I had left at home (this rarely happens to me). I definitely brought too much stuff for my daughter and I didn't wear all the outfits that I had planned to wear in the evening but that's only because my choices were limited by the weather, as I couldn't do without a jacket or a sweater. I didn't get to wear the Calypso top (it doesn't work with something on top of it) and even the persimmon shell (too summery for the weather) but the outfits with the fresco pants worked very well (and I could top them with my navy windbreaker, a plus). I could squeeze the Comptoir black and gold dress in my suitcase even if I thought I wouldn't wear it and surprisingly I wore it twice. I forgot to mention in my packing post that this dress is a bit big on me on top and I should take it to the tailor to take it in a little bit at the shoulders but I didn't have time to do the alteration before my trip. The problem is, like this it is very low-cut and a bit scandalous (as you will see in the pics below) but my husband said that "it is OK in Miami".
The first time I wore the dress to dinner at the steakhouse of the first hotel (that was in the middle of nowhere, so dining options were limited to the hotel restaurants or a mall nearby. After braving the rain to go to the mall the first night, when it was pouring, and ending up in a Chinese restaurant chain, the second evening we decided that the hotel Brazilian steakhouse will do it. It was actually quite good and definitely more upscale than the mall so I took it as an occasion to dress up).
The second time I wore the dress to one of the most amazing restaurants I have ever been to. Not talking about the food here (even if food was decent), but the place and the view took my breath away. The place is called Juvia and it is located on Lincoln Road Mall, in the commercial space attached to the famous parking built by architect Herzog and De Meuron at the end of the road. If you are in Miami, you can't miss it, it is an attraction per se if you love architecture.
The restaurant is located on the top floor and has probably one of the best views on Miami, especially at night (I knew the restaurant from reading about it on Opentable so I took my husband there just to have a look when we were strolling on Lincoln Road the first day and that's when we decided to come back for dinner). Same view during the day and at night:

The restaurant has an outdoor seating area but it was too cold to dine outside:

The inside of the restaurant is a wooden structure with floor to ceiling windows that give the impression of being in a glass box. Amazing 360 view, especially if you have a window seat. Our table was probably the best in the restaurant because it was in the corner:

I wanted to show you this pic back at the hotel because it shows the "grandeur" of the hall (note my daughter exhausted on the ottoman):

The only thing that I could have left at home are the scroll print shorts, but because I had bought them for Miami I felt like I had to wear them at least once. So when we went for a walk on the beach at the end of President's day I changed myself to take the pictures. I don't know if you can tell, but I was freezing. That's how the models shooting summer catalogs in the middle of winter must feel!

That's all I wanted to share. Anybody is from Miami or has been to Miami recently and had dinner at Juvia?