Well, a little start to enter kindergarten ....
3 years already I am on the web! Very quiet in recent months, I could become the enfant terrible of the tongue ...
It tempts you, this return?
continued!
No one returns from a trip or a stay abroad as we went: our perception of ourselves and the world changes. Some rough edges of our personalities have long been filed down by our lifestyle, our culture, our confrontation with others. We believe knowing your strengths and weaknesses and it has over the years, built a life that can exploit the former and avoid - as much as possible - that we jump to the second face . We carefully placed on our card geography interior, our highways, our peaks to climb, our wetlands, our deadlocks and our safe havens: we are assured we can move forward in life-clad certainties ... PS A big thank you to all who have encouraged and complimented for this blog! Your reactions, your laughter, your indignation were my fuel and I had a great time to share with you day after day that we live ... Did you like this blog? It will soon be a book with photos: if you want a copy (which will cost about thirty dollars), you can order it by mail to the following address:
blog.floride @ gmail. com
Their uniform consists of a small orange shorts and a T-shirt bearing the logo instead of casting chain. The selection criteria are strict, which has also led to legal claims because Hooters employs of plump women or older men and in the kitchen. Competitions and shows Hooters are organized throughout the country: we elect the "Miss Hooters of the month" and it pulls the timing of the most beautiful Hooters waitresses. To learn (and see) more: http://www.hooters.com/
After the eyes of these gentlemen have returned to their orbits (...), we went bowling . A first for me! My technique is of course far from elegant, but I managed a few "strikes" under the round eyes of astonishment of David and Michael, so I treated "whippersnappers talking much but doing little about their evidence. "Suddenly, the sting, they gave me quite a lesson in modesty ...
U.S. law on firearms It is illegal to have to carry a weapon fire without permit to carry a weapon.
Exceptions:
We spend the night at the motel "Gilbert's Resort in Key Largo. A room with 2 queen beds, but neat summary, a small wood deck faded a trifle shaky overlooking the dock, a table of the same wood and 2 plastic chairs that have seen better days.
This could be a setting to give you the blues, but it has the endearing charm of those old ladies who tell of their former glory with a naughty look even ... few steps along the dock, here's the Tiki bar: a few huts under palm trees, a friendly waitress vulgar, a band playing tunes of the 70s, a few middle-aged Americans to sip their protruding belly that Budweiser leaning on the bar, a couple a little drunk trying to dance, c 'America is popular and friendly ...
200 years ago, Key West is a mosquito-infested island on which live a few fishermen. But some get the salt trade, a commodity essential to the time for food preservation. And harbor waters, relatively deep, are also an ideal stopover Key West and almost mandatory on the road of "West Indies (Caribbean). However, the reefs surrounding the island would generate a far more lucrative trade that the port duties: a gust of wind, maneuvering a trifle vague, and cargo ships were shipwrecked virtually at your doorstep. Just sit and wait, then go get the goods still usable for sale. Technology helps, vessels become stronger and more sophisticated navigation instruments: the wrecks are not enough to feed their rights. Key West starts the business of the sponge, then with the arrival of Cuban immigrants fleeing the Revolutionary War (which lasted 10 years), in the manufacture of cigars. But the industry collapses with the arrival on the cigarette market. The boom of the 20s used to develop tourism, but not for long. That's Great Depression 30 years, and Key West for bankruptcy, its factories closed, leaving its people, its houses are empty. New twist 15 years later with "pink gold" - a new variety of very tasty shrimp. Then in the late '60s, many artists a bit hippie, a bit idealistic and very misty by hashish and LSD settle. They are still there. Maybe they still indulge in a little smoke makes occasional, and their ideals have not changed ...
Ernest Hemingway, whom his friend in Dos Passos spoke at length, stops in Key West with his young wife on his return to Paris and falls in love Island: "It's like living at the other end of the world while on the last toe of America." He buys a house, takes a lot of fish and cooked the ancient evoke nostalgia vaguely guilty. That Hemingway became the flagship of the city, and refined gentlemen who make you visit his house that evoke his genius, erasing its follies.
Miami took off when Julia Tuttle (who bought a lemon groves on the death of her husband) and Brickell, (co-founder of the city) convinces Henry Morrison Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway to link the city railway network in the 1890s. In the 20s, Miami allowed gambling and does not enforce the ban, causing a massive influx of new residents. Then, when Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959, some 500,000 Cubans emigrated to Miami, which are later added a great number of Haitians (at the time of the famous Papa Doc). Thus were born Little Havana, whose central axis is the 8th Street - everybody called "Calle Ocho" - and Little Haiti. As in any large metropolis, but also the fact that Miami is the "gateway to South America", the crime rate is high and not a day passes without its share of gangland, murders and overdoses .
Miami Downtown business district
Tourism is one of the major resources of the region and the Port of Miami is the largest in the world for cruises, with nearly 4 million passengers per year! Several bridges, including Maccarthur Causeway connects the mainland to Miami Beach, bordered by a sandy beach virtually uninterrupted for nearly 30 km.
There are about ten years, the city decided to restore and preserve an area full of Art Deco buildings : the Miami neighborhood that I prefer. Of course it is very touristy but it is human scale and architecture are beautiful. Ocean Drive, the road that borders the beach around 1 km, is the focal point Young hipsters who friment the terraces at the touch of their mobile plated gold or convertible are revving their latest ...
After his brief trip to Miami, we went toward the Keys, the string of islands that extend south Florida. Their name has nothing to do with keys, but with the English word "cays" ... Thus, the name Key West, where one wonders why it's called the West while it is the most southerly island, is a distortion of Cayos Uessos, the island of bones ... I mention tomorrow?
We too have our little news story, funny one: Returning from a trip to Dog Beach, we were preceded by a car on top of which stood a pair of red shoes with heels ... Amazing ...
An eminent scientist described the many absurd and work implemented by engineers totally unaware of the consequences tragic their projects as "the greatest environmental disaster in America in recent decades." In 2000, under pressure from the associations for the protection of nature, a charter lake restoration to its original state and Environmental Protection has finally been signed. But that human intervention has stupidly destroyed for economic reasons does not recreate a magic wand ...
In the miscellaneous category, an event that has disrupted the quiet of the neighborhood. A few days ago, a man set fire to the house belonging to his girlfriend and then shot himself in the head. And as the houses have a wooden frame covered with drywall, the fire spread very quickly. By the time firefighters arrived, there was hardly anything left to save. But if the man was desperate, He loved animals: he took the precaution of having the cat out before setting fire ... The poor animal was found at the bottom of the garden and smoky tempered by abundant watering by firefighters.
Barbara spoke of the event while we were walking our dogs. While I was putting in place of the wife and I imagined the emotional impact of the event, the grieving to do, feelings of guilt when spouse commits suicide, personal belongings and memories destroyed, she was concerned about the financial situation: the house was insured against fire, but when the fire was set intentionally, the insurance does not pay a dime of course. And life of the gentleman for his girlfriend does not cover death by suicide. That may be a caricature, but you can not help thinking that death is less severe here than the lack of money, especially as the journalist's article makes it clear that the house was worth 500 ' 000 dollars but nowhere evoke the human side ...
The ticket includes the inevitable souvenir shop: endless T-shirt "Florida" and "Everglades", shells, posters, mugs printed, and of course heads and legs of alligators. The tower is a little disappointing, although the scenery is worth the trip: a single alligator wants to show the tip of her nose and there is almost no birds. It seems that the last hurricane has caused so much damage in the Everglades and winds have destroyed most of the nests. It will take several years for the diversity and number of birds returning to normal.
Herbert I propose to push a little further toward Miami because during our last stay in Florida, we found an old road parallel to the highway, whose course had been classified nature reserve. Perhaps there would we more likely to see animals, but must still find it! We arrive in the Indian territory surrendered Mikokoolie and we stopped in a shop for ask where is this famous road: the young man to whom we go live in the area since birth and is already gone to Miami (about sixty km), it never went beyond the village the other direction. This is not the first time we see the almost total lack of curiosity of Americans for their region, their fauna and flora. They know the route from home to work or to stores (possibly the church) and basta! We eventually find tourists who have a detailed map and tell us that the old road is indicated by only a small sign "loop road" that we can easily be missed. After several miles, finally we end up finding. And there is magic! You can stop almost anywhere and see ibis, marabout, kites, vultures, and of course the famous alligators ...
This one is a beautiful adult over two meters that sits (or lies in wait for his dessert?) At 1m 50 away from the road and therefore our calves!
Large ibis are very frightened: they are not afraid of cars, but once you stop the engine, they fly away ... To photograph them, we So we left the car and slowly walked a hundred yards off, making us as small and unobtrusive as possible. Two seconds later they were gone: the click of the camera was enough to scare them away ...
's Eve was more than quiet: After we feasted on barbecued prawns, accompanied by a refreshing green salad and good wine, we looked at the clock: 21 hours only and all world yawned to jaw-dropping ... In short, I do not know if it's the climate or age, but everyone was exhausted and went to bed at 22 pm (except me, as usual)! The champagne had waited overnight in the fridge ...