Day Two

---

Geo: 26.7144, -80.0527

We sleep well but as usual our body clocks are out of whack and so we are both wide awake by 4am. We manage to snooze for another hour before getting up and making coffee. Weather forecast for today is going to be a very nice 21c (72f) which although not particularly warm for Florida for us it's practically a heatwave.

We drive to Denny's for our traditional breakfasts when we are in the US. Grand Slam Slugger for Peter. Moons over My Hammy for me. Shortly after that we decide to drive eastward toward the coast and Palm Beach itself. We park up and walk half a mile or so along the coast and find ourselves at the top of Worth Avenue. Worth Avenue is very similar to Rodeo Drive in LA. Full of glitzy and fashionable shops. Tiffany, Gucci, Valentino, Hermes, you name it and it's there. The street itself is a very pretty palm lined avenue. Small lanes branch off each side that lead to shady, cool courtyards full of smaller boutique shops.

We are both wearing our fitbits and are clocking up the steps as we head back to the car. We head back toward our hotel but stop off in the Outlet Mall opposite as Peter specifically wants to pick up some of his favourite Calvin Klein underwear which is much cheaper here than back home. I pick up some Hilfiger socks as the small shoe sleeve socks I am wearing are very thin and my new trainers are rubbing.

We drive south after this toward Boynton Beach as we are meeting some cruise friends for lunch. We arrive at Gail and Dennis's house around 12.30. We get a guided tour of their lovely home which is full of some exquisite ornaments and decorative pieces. I particularly like the Elephant Room which is full of every kind of elephant ornament in different sizes and designs. Joyce is there and although lovely to see her we can't help but feel sad at the reminder of Jerry's recent passing, although he is most definitely there in spirit. Martia and Steve then turn up (we met them on our Liberty Cruise last year).

There is a lot of food. Gail's and Dennis have gone to a lot of trouble. We are served Sausage rolls, Knish (small potato pies), Hummus but I particularly enjoy the baked Brie which is so delicious. We then have what Gail refers to a Jewish Soul food. If you are a vegetarian you might have problems. Tongue, Pastrami, Beef, Turkey, Corned Beef all accompanied with delicious potato salad, coleslaw, pickles and a variety of breads. We eat out on the patio in the lovely afternoon sun. Some lovely Danish pastries follow and we are stuffed. Gail & Dennis sons family turn up to say hello but don't stay long and after a few hours we say our goodbyes before heading back to West Palm Beach.

With some very good directions from Dennis we find a large wine store where we purchase some Veuve Clicqot for our sailaway tomorrow. From there we head to City Point which is a large shopping district near to Palm Beach. My Fitbit dings 10,0000 steps. It's very busy and we struggle to find parking but eventually do. We head straight to Bath & Bodyworks to pick up some shower gels and hand soaps to bring home. We then go to Macy's and find some bargains in the sale which are discounted even more when we pay which is always a pleasant surprise.

Back at the hotel we relax for a while before heading out for dinner. We drive about 3 miles to a steakhouse we like but although I knew it was likely to be busy, as its valentines, we didn't expect a 2 hour table wait. We head next door to a sport bar which would not be a venue of choice but we didn't fancy driving around trying to find a restaurant that might equally be as busy as the steakhouse. We are seated immediately with what looks like a lot of overspill guests from the steakhouse who also decided they didn't want to wait that long.

Food and service was meh. The shared starter we had was actually very nice but the Cajun Alfredo I order for main was pretty horrible and barely edible. Luckily after the lunch I had I was not too hungry and so not too bothered. Peter struggled with his main too but that was more to do with the portion size than the taste.

We head back to the hotel where a bottle of wine has been chilling in the fridge. Our only problem is that in the US most wines bottle still have corks. In the UK corks as now very rare as everything has a screw top. Our problem is that we don't have a corkscrew and so I google how to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew. There were some surprising results and suggestions. Placing the bottle into the heel of a shoe and banging against a wall was not an option, our neighbours might not thank us. I then spotted a video that was titled how to pull out a cork with a car key. It was some slightly insane Russian guy who suggested inserting a car key into the cork at a 45 degree angle, twisting it 360 degrees whilst pulling up. I as about to suggest to Peter that it would never work only to find Peter was already trying it...and it worked. Kudos to the crazy Russian guy.

After we drank the wine we settle to watch some TV but our heads were soon heavy with sleep and at around 9.30pm we decided to turn off the lights. Jet-lagged bodies still think its 2.30am.

---

Comments

[Chris]

Why are the streets deserted?

[Patrick]

It was early Sunday morning. There were a few joggers about.