Day 3 in Miami meant sleeping in, breakfast in bed, rest, cuddle, pack and jump in an Uber to go to the cruise terminal. Our ship, the Norwegian Bliss, is one of 7 ships that are here today. Just think about the logistics to these operations 😵💫 By the end of the day, it is always amazing that you have your luggage in your room and a meal in your belly!
Walt Grace Vintage – Cars & Guitars is a huge warehouse in Wynwood that we just visited to kill time before lunch [Zak the Baker: see below!]. We couldn’t believe the expansive collection of guitars and equipment; my brother Anton would just want to move in because of the guitars and my brother Jürgen would take all the cars. Win-Win!
And there it happened: I fell in love with Harold (sorry Ted!). Harold was just so handsome, colorful and bright; perfectly in shape, he was what I always wanted! And there he was, waiting for me!!!
I just had to have him, right there, right now! And the sales clerk tuned him for me, explained a few things and we decided to give my newly acclaimed Ukelele his name: Harold! I love Harold and as soon as we got back, I restrung him into a left-handed Ukelele and practiced my first song, „You are my sunshine“! Ted, who is a good sport about Harold, is still around, neither Harold nor my music scared him away!
Zak the Baker is a very interesting, innovative Bakery that has delicious food and a great following. So great, that you have to wait an hour to get a table – it’s totally worth the wait!
The chocolate almond cookie afterwards didn’t want to wait for a Kodak moment – it just disappeared in no time!
One funny thing happened at Zak the Baker: as mentioned above, the place is incredibly busy and so is the hostess, signing in hundreds of people a day. When we were about to leave after lunch, she walked inside to the back of the building and said: „good-bye, Edith“. A few minutes later she came back and I said: „wow, you must have a very good memory for names“, but she just shrugged it off: „not always; some people I just remember“
Wynwood is a 30 square-block area in Miami that used to be the garment district between the 1920s and the 1980s with hundreds of sweatshops. With NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement) kicking in, allowing garments to be produced and sold in Cañada, USA and Mexico without any customs involved, the production moved south of the border because of the low labor costs there. The sweatshops in Miami closed. And all the empty warehouses attracted all those who couldn’t afford life in Miami otherwise, lots of gangs and illegal activities and – drumroll – many artists! And those artist used those warehouses, one or two stories buildings, as their canvas, producing streetart of the finest!
We took a guided tour in a funky golf cart, experiencing not only the biggest amount of streetart you can imagine, but also the highest quality I’ve ever seen! We took at least a hundred photos each …
Todays Wynwood is an upcoming neighborhood, with rich people buying multimillion dollar condos, that are replacing the old sweatshop buildings. And with those buildings gone, the artwork gets lost….. Very sad!
The art-work below was done by Ron English, a 65-year old artist, who used Picassos Guernica as a references! I’m deeply impressed by this talent, artistic expression and ability!
