Miami

My Lonely Planet guidebook told me Miami "is mainly glamour condensed into urban form". I didn't find Miami glamorous. South Beach has some great art deco architecture but otherwise reminded of Bourbon Street or the tacky parts of the Las Vegas strip, just on the beach. The Florida coastline, like the rest of the state is flat. It doesn't have the dramatic scenery of the California or Maine coasts. Florida's coastline is also over-built with too many high rise condo buildings lining the coast. The notion I had in my head of Miami was from the TV show, Burn Notice, where it looked much better than my experience of it.

My favorite place in Miami was the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. Vizcaya was the summer estate of a wealth industrialist. It's what Hearst Castle should have been. It's incredibly tastefully done and a delight to visit.