Hollywood, FL | Sick of NY winter - going to the beach!!

Thursday, 3/27 - we're packing. So happy to to be leaving cold upstate NY. Winter this year is dreading for us. We're lucky to have friends who own a condo in Hollywood, FL and letting us stay for free. Tomorrow morning we're flying down and spending 5 long days on the beach!

Friday, the 28th - arrived in under 3 hours - amazing - Newburgh's Stewart International Airport is expending - we took Jetblue direct to Fort Lauderdale - and it was a 'free' flight as we had enough air miles from our past trips. Wow - this might end up being our first completely free vacation.

Our friend's Hollywood apartment is amazing! It's on the terrace floor of two huge condo towers called the Summit. Coming out of the balcony are two swimming pools and a stunning view of the ocean on one side and 'intercoastal' bay area on the other. We took a first stroll down the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk! Yes, Broad not Board - what a sweet place - we're reading it's the only one in Florida - crazy! Really - very charming place - lot's of people - mostly foreigners and a good mixture of young and old people (and we thought it's going to be just retirement community crowd). It's about 2.5 miles long with a Hollywood Beach Theater kind of in the middle. (nice concerts in the evenings and dancing throughout the day)

We're reading Hollywood, FL was a winner of All American City 2007 competition (they brag about it here). Heh, and we've never heard of it until recently - guess gotta watch more tv. We drove all the way down to Key West and back in college days, but never stopped over on the way.

First thought is - the usual ;) - let's move down here. They say Florida's real estate market is suffering and you can grab one of these condos at a discount. Oh well, if only my husband was such a beach lover like me. ;)

We went out with our friends today. They're going back tomorrow so they showed us around a bit. Hollywood Blvd makes you feel like a movie star - very upscale place with tons and tons of restaurants. We picked a great one - Italian place - La Piazza Pasta Cafe - food was amazing and we had a great time (even though the kids were not in the mood).

Saturday 3/29 - our friends are packing - we're taking two older kids for a walk. Discovered a great bakery - Giorgios I believe it's called. We're gonna have to come back. For now we just got some breads and icecream.

Sunday 3/30 - every week on Sunday there is a Josh's Organic Market on Broadwalk. We went the first thing in the morning. Got some really fresh fruits and veggies for the fruit salad for lunch. Baby loved it. Later we went back for a cup of orange-carrot freshly squeezed juice. Tried sunflower sprouts for the first time in my life and they're excellent. This is great - we're going to catch up on vitamins after this dragging winter. By the way, also found out you can make cups and utencils from corn and potatoes. 100% they said. And they feel 100% like plastic. There is a hope for this world.

Spent the afternoon on the terrace reading a book in the shade (Chris working on a laptop of course) and looking at the ocean - great wind out there for sailing - lots of boats under a full sail. Goodness I miss sailing.

Plans for the rest of the day - just a walk and salad with Riesling for dinner.

Plans changed ;) I discovered a cute little bus that goes in the loop and carries tourists to and from major attractions and restaurants. It's called Hollywood Trolley and it's very useful if you don't have a car. Goes every 30 minutes and it's only $1.

Unfortunately we had a first fight because of it. ;) Why? Because a stupid driver wouldn't stop thinking my husband isn't waiting for a bus while I was still getting there with the baby. So we ended up blaming ourselves and had to wait another 30 minutes. ;)

Very symbolically, it rained (for the first time since we arrived) when we hopped on the bus, and stopped when we got off on Hollywood Blvd. That 'cleared the clouds' and we ended up having good time strolling down the street full of cafes and restaurants and having a dinner at Mamma Mia - okay food, wouldn't recommend it, but a great time b/c Flavia ate a lot and fell asleep in the stroller. We enjoyed a long walk to the apartment after the dinner with baby asleep.

Monday 3/31 - sent husband to the bakery and had some super fresh breads with mango butter I prepared. Yummy with coffee and fruit salad. Took Flavia to the beach while Chris was working a little. Later after he joined us Flavia got stung by the jelly fish she stepped on while playing with Chris. After some crying she took her first ever nap on the beach. Later we ate at the pretty well known Opa Taverna. Excellent Greek food and quite a show - check me out dencing on the table. ;)

Tuesday - 4/1 - we decided to start the morning with drinks. After breakfast we went to Diplomat - one of the Hollywood's luxury hotels. What started with couple drinks and beer turned into lunch, courtesy of Flavia's nap all throughout. We walked back on the beach and spent good few hours swimming and tanning. Finished it all off with another long swim at the pool before shower and dinner (wine and restaurant leftovers)

Tomorrow is the last day ;( Gonna try to catch as much sun's energy as possible before returning to cold NY.

Wednesday - 4/2 - another long walk on the beach. This time we tried getting to the very end of the Broadwalk. Surprise - they're shooting a movie on the Broadwalk and they have it closed off. Some Indian production - Dostana, which we hear translates to Friendship in English. I guess we're going to have to wait for the release now ;)

The end of the Hollywood Broadwalk has a Nature Preserve where you can supposedly spot nesting turtles. We're not lucky enough but spend some quality time with the baby fighting ocean waves and building sand castles instead.

That's all folks. Leaving swimsuits behind and adjusting from 85 to 36 degrees. The flight takes us back in 3 hours (waiting for a cab to take us to the airport wasn't fun though - I do not recommend 777-7777 yellow cab, sorry).

Had a great time - tanned, relaxed, now back to reality. Thank you JetBlue, thank you air miles, thank you Stewart International Airport and above all thank you Amy and John for letting us use their great condo.