South Beach 2 - the Dorchester

A disappointing last breakfast at the News Cafe before checking out of the Pelican. I should have read the menu more carefully - replacing the hollandaise with cream cheese on eggs florentine was not one of the chef's better ideas...

The art deco walking tour was also not the best, I think our guide 'Kent' needs to lose the script and freshen up the jokes.

A short taxi ride later and we are in the Dorchester on Collins north of Lincoln Road, a bigger hotel with a pool and beach access via its sister hotel the Marseilles. We resist the $1 specials at the bar and head up Lincoln Road for stroll before our planned trip to Little Havana.

The bus interchange downtown is confusing so we opt for a cab. Not a whole lot to see in Little Havana - some old Cuban guys playing dominoes, art galleries and Cuban diners and bars - a quick tortilla Espanol and then we jump on a bus downtown, just as a text arrives from my mother warning against the murder dangers if downtown Miami! We change buses, avoiding various fellow travellers with mental health problems and return to the safety of South Beach.

For the evening's activities a bar crawl of the high end hotels is planned, starting with the Ritz Carlton de Lido bar (closed), the Sagamore (deserted), the Delano Rose Bar (livelier), the Delano Florida Room - designed by Lennie Kravitz - (closed for refurbishment), the National (empty), the Raleigh (empty). Not exactly wall to wall Beyonce and JLo! We draw the line at the Catalina - (KFed sightings) and head up Lincoln Road, dropping into Five Napkin Burger, home of the legendary 10oz burger - opting for the fish tacos before heading home to bed.

Thursday up bright and not so early for a morning by the pool. The heat got the better of me after a couple hours and I headed for shops.

The evening's highlight was dinner at Sushi Samba - the Japanese Peruvian Brazilian fusion restaurant featured in Sex & The City. Amazing food and great cocktails, we then headed down to The Palace on Ocean Drive for a sidewalk drag act - lots of big hair and lip syncing whilst a family tucked into cheeseburger and fries seemingly oblivious!

Friday was cloudy and pretty uneventful, early night required prior to the super early start on Saturday to catch the 08.00 train to Orlando.