Day 60 - Coconut Grove Art Festival

The Coconut Grove Art Festival is one of the finest art fairs in the country.  It is always held the same weekend as the Miami Boat Show, and we have been once before when we were down for the show.  We decided to go again today and walked a few blocks to pick up the 120 bus to the Omni Metromover station across the McArthur Causeway.  The Metromover took us to the Metrorail system downtown Miami and we transfer to the train that takes us to Coconut Grove.  From there we had to walk to Bayside Park where the festival is located.  After consulting Google Maps we started off on a route that we believed would lead us to the festival.  We walked through residential neighborhoods that are lovely with lush, green vegetation everywhere.  We got to the park but realized that we had overshot the art fair by several blocks, so we walked further until finally, we saw the white tents.

 

There are exhibitors from all over the country, a number of them from Wisconsin, of all places.  The art work is very innovative and high quality.  One of my favorite booths, Stelios, featured belts or jewelry woven, crocheted or macramed from copper wire, then plated with 24k gold or pewter.  There were lots of jewelers, glass makers, painters, sculptors, leather and wood workers, and more.  The sun was hot and we needed to sit and have some food and drink.  We sat at a table by the music stage, listening to a band from Brazil before walking the rest of the fair.

 

Taking a more direct route back to the Metrorail stop, we got there much quicker.  We stopped at "Berries in the Grove for a cool drink before getting on the train and heading back to the boat.  I had a refreshing “Spa Cooler” containing berry liqueur, cucumber and mint, while Captain Randy had a berry rum drink.  The 2 train rides back went quickly, but we had a 45 minute wait for the #120 bus.  Public transportation is great when it works, but there is no recourse when it doesn’t.

Too tired to go anywhere else after walking all day, we spent the evening on the boat watching more Olympics.  Congratulations to Meryl Davis and Charlie White on winning the USA’s first gold medal in Ice Dancing with their absolutely perfect, beautiful performance!!