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| Vino volo on parade |
We took the funny little United Airlines bus from Allentown
to Newark where we used our layover time wisely drinking wine at Vino
Volo. Then, we flew down to Fort
Lauderdale to spend two nights before boarding our ship, the Coral
Princess. We had never visited Fort
Lauderdale before, so we were anxious to check it out.
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| Beautiful beach at Fort Lauderdale |
Fort Lauderdale is a beautiful Florida beach community, much
smaller and less intense than Miami.
Called the American Venice, Fort Lauderdale is all about the water with
waterways and inlets crisscrossing all over town. The city is also considered the yachting
capital of the world. We have never seen so many mega yachts in one place.
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Swan swimming among the Bonnet water lilies
at the Bonnet House |
We started our sightseeing at the Bonnet House, a
fascinating home built in the 1920’s by an artist named Frederic Bartlett (the
house is named for the Bonnet water lilies growing in the pond.) The house has lots of whimsical features
reflecting the artist’s personality, including lots of wood carvings of monkeys
and colorful carousel animals standing guard in the courtyard. The interior walls of the house are covered
with paintings by Frederic and his third wife Evelyn. The Bartletts were art collectors as well,
and their donated paintings form the core of the renowned Impressionist
collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.
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| Spielberg's $110 million yacht |
Next, we hopped on a water taxi to get a guided tour and take
a closer look at Fort Lauderdale from the water. Apparently, this town has been a popular playground
for the rich and famous for many years. We saw Steven Spielberg’s $110 million
yacht along with homes formerly belonging to stars like Gene Hackman, Merv
Griffin, Farrah Fawcett, and even Sonny and Cher. Today, many of the homes belong to business
tycoons like the entrepreneurs who started Blockbuster, Monster.com, and
Sunglass Hut (who knew sunglasses could be so lucrative?)
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| Fort Lauderdale mansion with yacht parked out front |
The homes were lovely, and since no one seems to hang
curtains, after dark, we could clearly see the interiors as well. But after a while, the multi-million dollar
price tags became a bit disturbing. Like
the house with property taxes costing $1100/day, or the couple who lives alone
in a 32,000 square-foot home with a multi-million dollar yacht out front that
is many times bigger than our house in the Pokies!
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| Frank gets his pickles! |
We ate dinner on lively Las Olas Boulevard, the main eating
and shopping street. People are so nice here – when Frank asked for pickles on
his hamburger, the waiter went to the restaurant next door to get some! We also had our first Uber experience! You
may know that Uber is a new alternative to taxi cabs; Uber drivers register
with the Uber Company but use their own vehicles to drive people around. We walked to a liquor store to buy some wine
for the cruise, but the store was closed.
We met two young guys who were also looking to buy some booze for their
cruise, and when they contacted Uber for a ride to another liquor store, they
invited us along! Worked like a dream,
and we couldn’t wait to let you know how trendy we are becoming (LOL)!
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