I'm pretty sure that you all know how I feel about big cities by now. I went off about it when I talked about Savannah a few weeks ago. As I keep having the opportunity to experience new places, I have now visited Miami, Florida, as well. Let's just say that it wasn't really my speed.
We were only in Miami for about a day and stayed overnight at the Hyatt Regency.* The most difficult part of visiting Miami was getting there. I am by no means a veteran driver yet, so that is yet another factor that turns me off to big cities. The traffic is usually crazy. On your way to Miami, there is toll after toll after toll. The drivers are crazy, and for us, the traffic was thick. I made Mark take over about an hour and a half away from Miami because I was uncomfortable.
When we actually reached the city, the streets to our hotel seemed cramped and scary. Everything was quite clean, but the whole set up made me nervous. All those big buildings so close together was intimidating.** It was just not a place that made me feel comfortable.
After we got checked into our hotel, we decided to go for a walk, see what Miami had to offer nearby. It turns out that it was more about what we had to offer. In front of our hotel, waiting to cross a street, we met a very nice man. Now, when I say we met him, I mean he gallantly directed the traffic already stopped at the red light to remain back, so Mark and I could cross the road. Sounds funny and kinda nice, right? Miami is full of characters.
This gentleman, who I shall refer to as Bubbles***, proceeded to walk down the street with us. He insisted, in a fun way, that Mark actually say hello to him. He also promised to guess our ages. Now, he was a true showman and knew how to play the crowd. As I'm sure he does with any female, he guessed low on my age. I think he guessed over on Mark's age. Either way, Bubbles said it was his birthday and gave us a bit of a show.
Well, nothing in this world is free, so he asked us for ten dollars. He was up front and honest, told us that he had some food in his backpack and just wanted to go buy a beer and relax. Mark only had six bucks on him, as we don't really carry cash. When Mark offered it, the guy still pushed for ten, but Mark pulled a Pawn Star move on him and said best he could do was six. Bubbles took it and strolled away into the night.
Now, I've had people come up to me in the Wal-Mart parking lot and ask for money. One time, a really scary lady stopped us in a rest stop parking lot to ask for money. Since I'm already leery of people, being panhandled is one of my worse silly fears. I must give Bubbles credit though; he was a consummate professional that offered up a bit of entertainment before asking for money. At least he didn't' ask for something for nothing. Should he ever read this, bravo, sir.
After our random encounter, we continued walking for a while. Did you know Miami is ridiculously hot? It's also humid! While I knew this beforehand, it didn't make walking around any more pleasant. Additionally, the shops we found were a bit seedy. Even the stores with names I knew, like Payless, were a bit dirty. I found a pair of shoes for sale that I'm pretty sure had been worn for a couple months already.
I haven't experienced all that Miami has to offer, but I didn't care for what I saw. It further reinforced the idea that big cities are scary places with a lot of people. I would hate to be there when the zombie apocalypse starts. Although, I'm sure Bubbles will be safe. He'll be the wise cracking guy that survives.
*Actually, I'm not really sure of the hotel we stayed at. It's really not that important to the story, and I don't want to wake Mark up to ask him where we stayed.
**Yes, I know I'm a country bumpkin. Don't judge me!
***Wire, represent, yo! By the way, I'm not indicating that the man was a drug addict. He just seemed nice and relatively harmless.
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