'Welcome to Miami'

During the approach to Miami, I have the song by Will Smith in my ears and happily join the queue for the fully automated border control. Unfortunately, the process takes significantly longer than I expected from the supposedly advanced USA. Two hours later, I am sitting on the train to Lake Worth to spend a few days with relatives and celebrate a wedding.

The pool house is being used diligently and the beach ceremony is spared from rain at the decisive moment. The sun causes sunburn for some of the wedding guests. In combination with the recurring rain, beautiful rainbows and unique photos are created.

The small but fine wedding party and the nature-oriented location give the intimate moment of two loving people a very special and romantic atmosphere.

A break between the official ceremony on the beach and the festive dinner is traditionally spent in the pool in Florida. Personally, I can't imagine a more relaxed celebration.

Afterwards, we go to Miami Beach. Beaches, restaurants, bars, shopping, seeing and being seen, the beach body and appearance in general seem to be the predominant topics in this part of the city. Here mainly live the immigrants who live and work in Miami. In addition to the many Europeans, there is a very large Spanish-speaking community, mainly due to the many Cuban exiles. But there are also other South and Central Americans who are seeking their luck in the Sunshine State of the USA. All signs and instructions are executed bilingually, so you can get by here with Spanish almost as much as with English.

I wander through the streets, enjoy delicious food, palm trees, and the sun, and I am repeatedly forced to take a break due to heavy rain.

In Miami Beach, there is the most significant district in the Art Deco style with around 1000 listed buildings. Mostly at the beginning of the last century, these houses were built to attract tourists with the then modern style to the area.

In Miami, there are all kinds of art, both indoors and outdoors. I particularly like the pictures of the artist Kobra, who modifies famous personalities with colorful patterns.

What caught my attention right from the start and what I still can't understand until the end of my stay are the high prices. Not only are dishes about a third to half more expensive compared to German prices, but regardless of whether I get the food at the self-service counter or it is brought to the table, a tip of AT LEAST 20% is expected. Well, that's just the common behavior in the USA to give a tip, but the extent to which it is expected here and the negative reactions if it is omitted, I find quite remarkable.

A trip to the Everglades rounds off my stay in Florida. Even if the half-day trip is again very commercial (Do you want a photo with a baby alligator on your arm for only $20? Or a t-shirt or a crocodile burger?), I find the swamp landscape very impressive and would have liked to drive around for more than just an hour. In a short presentation afterwards, we learn that the crocodiles, which are quite frequently found in gardens and pools, are collected free of charge for the residents by their own organization. Since I am generally interested in nature and its protection, I would have expected that the captured reptiles would be kept somewhere or even released back into nature. But that's not the case, because they are passed on to the respective industries, namely food and clothing, except for the few animals that are allowed to perform tricks on site. Yes, somewhere the crocodile burger has to come from...