While I'll try to bring up some witty anecdotes from Miami Beach over the next couple of days, I thought I'd start out with what everyone wants to see (or, rather, what I'd like to rub in everyone's face), the eye candy, shots from my apartment (you will get this same spiel, word for word, when you come and visit):
First is the view from my bedroom window, looking east over Miami Beach. The road running out to the beach is 10th St. As you can tell, except for apartment buildings (like mine) on the west side of the island, and Hotels on the east side of the island (north of this picture), the island is relatively low-lying, almost undeveloped (one of the roads that runs perpendicular to 10th in the middle there looks positively suburban.
Next is the view west from my balcony, out over Biscayne Bay and to downtown Miami. The island in the bay is Star Island, home to Miami's obscenely rich. The most recent neighboor to move in there is Shaq, now of the Miami Heat. At the southern end of the island is the mansion that is supposed to be the one from that documentary of Cuban-Miami relations, Scarface. Behind the island you can see two cruise ships (I think they're both "Carnval" cruise ships) docked at the port of Miami, home to countless tourists who want the experience of travelling abroad without the hassle of leaving the country. Finally downtown Miami is a fairly non-descript business district, with one notable building designed by I.M. Pei. The tallest building there is lit up at night in varying colors in a pale imitation of the Empire State Building:
These last two are not meaningful shots, I just thought they were beautiful sunset shots from Miami. They, like all the pictures here, are big enough to be desktop backgrounds, if you so desire (n.b.: my fotographic experience consists of less than a month owning this camera):
