Miami, Florida

When we first booked up this trip Florida was one of the places we wanted to see the most, for Gemma the main reason was Disney in Orlando. Before that however we stopped off at Miami. Miami is at the South East corner of the US and has been made famous through numerous films and TV programs. It is also an important financial and commercial city and is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, as well as home to many international company headquarters, and television studios. It is known as "The Gateway to the Americas" and the city's Port of Miami is the number one cruise/passenger port in the world and is known for accommodating the largest volume of cruise ships in the world.

Initially the area was home to the Tequesta Native Americans before being claimed for Spain in 1566. Miami holds the distinction of being the only major city in the United States founded by a woman, Julia Tuttle, who was a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native. The Great Freeze of 1894–1895 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railroad to the region. Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896 with a population of just over 300.

Miami and its metropolitan area grew from just over one thousand residents to nearly five and a half million residents in just 110 years (1896–2006). The city's nickname, The Magic City, comes from this rapid growth. Winter visitors remarked that the city grew so much from one year to the next that it was like magic.

We were to spend 3 nights here and were hoping we would also be able to check out the other thing Miami is famous for - the beach. On our first day however it was torrential rain all day. Our day was made even better by the fact that we arrived at the hotel at 9am in the morning after a 24 hour, 1000 mile bus journey and were made to sit in the lobby until around 3pm until our room was ready!

The rest of that day was spent sleeping and the next day we got up to find glorious sunshine again. We headed for the beach area where we spent most of the day soaking up the sun.

























Miami also has a very interesting mix of people and areas. There is a nice Marina and river walk area on the mainland and Downtown Miami has a huge collection of skyscrapers that house all the financial and corporate headquarters that are based here.