My notes tell me I had a bad night’s sleep, and I attributed it to eating too much too close to bedtime. On reflection, it may have been the size of the bill what did it!
With that unsettled night it was 10.30 before we were up and about and we brunched at Boheme Bistro. It being steps from our hotel and on the way to the beach was granting it a lot of our business this trip.
We chose to sit outside and after ordering we Facetimed Rebecca and had a chat for a bit. We were still doing that when our food arrived which resulted in me forgetting to take photos before the eating began.
A large Stuffed Baguette for was mine, which is not a new thing for me.
And that empty plate once contained Louise’s Eggs Benedict.
We encountered a few spots of rain whilst we ate, but it was that kind of hot where that was quite welcome. Thankfully, it was just those few spots and we didn’t need to move inside.
Once down at the beach, we were relieved and delighted to see the umbrellas up, despite there being a decent wind.
We assumed the position under overcast skies. It was of course still delightfully hot.
Mid-afternoon I went for a wander to get us some drinks and another lot of sun cream and besides that, we did literally nothing. The weather brightened too.
The ability to do nothing for hours on end is a non-negotiable skill for these types of holidays. I am very happy to do very little as I so sledom get that chance back home. We endured until around 5.30, strolled back to the hotel and readied ourselves for more eating and drinking.
Tonight we would stray from Atlantic Avenue and indeed Delray by driving out to Bocca and….
It took about 20 minutes to do so, and the I95 retained its crown as the worst road I’ve driven on in the US.
There was no wait to be seated and we kicked off with the bread service.
My diet coke arrived with some of the machine inside it, so I was brought another.
You may have guessed that we of course ordered the Nachos to share here for our entree, with beef added.
They were very good but not as good as those we have had at the Cheesecake Factory in Lake Buena Vista. Despite it being the same chain, experiences and dishes can differ greatly.
We forced ourselves to a dessert, sharing a Cookie Dough and Pecan slice.
It was glorious but it could not be finished.
I forgot to note the cost of this meal but I am confident to say it was a lot more acceptable than the one last night.
We drove home, went straight to bed and watched TV for a bit before enduring another unsettled night.
We rose earlier today. I am not looking for applause, just stating a fact!
I enjoyed some cereal in the room before heading down to a very windy and wild, yet still incredibly hot, beach. A description that has often been applied to me too.
That wind meant that once again, umbrellas were not permitted and we would be subjected the skin scorching rays.
The beach was busy again today, with the weekend folks cramping our style.
Without the comfort and protection of the shade I felt a little unsettled and unable to fully relax. Towels once again were draped over the bits of me most likely to be torched.
We did some people-watching, whilst enduring the 70’s classic rock playlist being enforced on anyone in the vicinity of the southern belles on the beds next to us. I had to disagree with Free that it was Alright Now.
As lunch time rolled around we decided to head over the road to get some food and respite from the sun, eating this time at Boston’s.
I had Chicken Tacos.
Chicken Sandwich for Louise.
A diet coke each and the bill was $45. The food was decent but nothing to write home, or indeed here, about.
As we returned to the beach, a large group of young teens was having a beach party/picnic in front of our beds. It turned out to be the joint 17th birthday party of twins.
It was fascinating watching the group dynamics of a species I know very little about. I did spot and feel incredibly sorry for one young girl who seemed to be on the edge of everything and hardly spoke to anyone. There were of course the Queen Bee popular girls with their entourages, who followed the Queen’s every step and word and the jocks who played “ball” and jumped around all six packs and hairlines. Ah to be young? No thanks.
They were all very well behaved though and when they packed up they all did their bit, cleared all their rubbish/trash and were complimented by the Daisy Dukes next to us on their behaviour.
With the windy weather, the sea was very rough today but I did venture in for a while. I was immediately battered, knocked down and generally abused by the waves so I did not stay in for long.
Late afternoon, after the teen party had left, they were replaced by three mid to late twenty males with one female in a bikini that would barely be sufficient to floss your teeth with. She was “with” one of the males, which was made clear by him refusing to let go of her for more than three seconds. The two third wheels (is that mathematically possible?) had a jock off (I said jock) playing football and running into the sea before they all settled down on their towels. Almost immediately a freak wave came all the way up the beach, completely submerging them, their towels and their phones in freezing-cold water. I have never seen four people jump so high so quickly.
Today seemed to be all about people watching and avoiding third-degree burns.
We left the beach around 5.30 and back at the hotel I did a washer load in the laundry which was just a couple of doors down from our room.
After showers and readying we were in a Lyft heading for town around 8pm. We were dining at Tramonti this evening. We had spotted it across the road when we ate at the Mexican and saw that it was very popular and looked lovely. It would turn out to be an expensive, but delicious decision.
We were seated in a booth at the rear of the restaurant and were immediately given iced water, bread and a torch to read the menu. You know it’s going to be a dear do when different servers look after the water and bread.
Louise ordered the first of what would be two half bottles of wine and I had an Espresso Martini.
To start I had a “baked cheese thing”.
Louise had “a Garlic mushroom thing”
My entree was a “Mushroom pasta thing”
Louise had a “Cannelloni Cheese thing”
All the food was so delicious and the standard of service was outstanding. All in, with the wine, martinis and food it came to a ludicrous $270 including tip. Far too much for one meal for two people of course. Well, it is if you aren’t rich like us. Still, we enjoyed it and we were on holiday so the odd silly indulgence is OK I suppose.
We walked up to the Yacht Club to witness what turned out to be a truly terrible band.
We didn’t stay long due to that and we were in a Lyft home by 11 after one drink.
Another lie in!? Disgraceful scenes for someone holidaying in Florida I know, but with only more lying about to do as and when we got up, why the hell not I say.
It was approaching 11am when we were up, showered and dressed. We headed down to the beach this time taking with us the beach chairs which were kindly and handily provided by the hotel. With it being only half a day on the beach by this stage we didn’t want to use up one of our pre-purchased bed days.
It was a windy one , so windy in fact that the umbrellas were not allowed to be up, making our decision to bring our own chairs even more wise.
We took up a spot quite close to the water’s edge and got battered by the breeze.
We had to retreat several times back up the beach as the water came further and further in but the breeze and cloud cover made the lack of a brolly and shade almost bearable. Nothing says “Brit abroad” more than sitting on the beach with a towel over your burnt bits to avoid further damage!
Lunch was a Publix Picnic and the beach was pretty busy today, despite the wind, with it being a weekend. Most folks were behind us, so the following photo is a little misleading!
The sea, as you can see, was pretty rough today and we saw quite a few folks underestimate it and get taken out. We decided not to test our luck. We stayed until about 3pm, at which time the need for some shade became undeniable so we headed back to the pool at the hotel for a bit.
I secured the only remaining beds by the pool today, but to be fair there were only about eight in total. Louise had returned to the room to shower the sand off her before taking up position by the pool. For someone who loves a beach holiday, her aversion to sand and the sea are confusing.
Upon her return, she decided, against my better judgement that we should sacrifice the last beds I had secured and move to the other pool, so we did. It was just a few minutes later that we returned, tails between our legs, hoping to still find our beds available as the other pool was “full”. Luckily they were and even more luckily I decided not to say out loud that I was once again correct.
We left the pool around 5.30 for showers and stuff. I watched some TV whilst Louise finished getting ready before getting into our Lyft around 8pm and heading for the bright lights of Delray. Tonight’s driver was great. Whilst we waited for the drawbridge to go up and down to let some super yacht through, he was telling us about how Delray has changed over the years. Apparently, back in the 70s, it was a very rough and dangerous place with high crime rates and lots of violence. Then in 80’s, a number of “mafia types” from Miami moved in, hoping to avoid all the killing and stuff in Miami. Their money transformed the place and then in the last 15 years or so tourism arrived in earnest and that brought more money and now it is a highly sought-after place to live. He did say that the mafia types have “mostly” gone now!
Tonight we were eating at Amar, which is a Lebanese place. Atlantic Avenue was weekend busy again and as we approached the podium, what looked to be the manager was on the phone bollocking a customer who was calling to cancel their reservation for that evening. He ended the call, took our details (we had booked) and just turned and walked away. We assumed we should follow him. Not a great start.
Once seated, our server appeared who seemed very stressed and the place was indeed rammed and incredibly loud. We were brought some bread….
We invested in a bottle of wine and ordered starters of Lebanese Moussaka and Hummus.
Both were delicious although we were surprised that the Moussaka was served cold. True to form, we quickly accepted when we were asked if we wanted more pitta for the Hummus. They never bring enough! It was clearly freshly made and it was incredible.
We ordered Shish Chicken and a Kebab for mains which were both awesome too.
The place had emptied a little by now so the noise was more tolerable and our server more relaxed. We celebrated by enjoying a rare dessert. Any place that serves Baklava is going to get me eating it.
It was coming up to 10pm now and we got the distinct impression they wanted to close up and we had very quickly become one of the last tables still eating. We paid the $168 bill and left, having enjoyed the food but probably suffered due to the busy nature of a Saturday night.
Right across the road from Amar was the oldest hotel in Delray. Of a weekend, on their porch they had musical entertainment so we wandered across the road and loitered for a few minutes hoping somebody would bugger off and free up a table. Amazingly they did and we swooped.
I went to the bar for some drinks, which was slightly delayed as the barman was having to deal with a customer wanting to close their tab, but the barman had seemingly lost his credit card, which was retained as their “tab”. The customer was delighted as I’m sure you can imagine. Slightly nervous to leave my card with him, I took our first round of two back to the table and enjoyed an excellent classical guitarist.
As the night drew to an end, a British couple a few tables away left in the most blingy golf cart I had ever seen. It even had a custom seat for their poodle which had been asleep under a chair for the evening. Clearly, these were locals and not tourist oiks like us.
We left around 11.15 and got a Lyft back to the hotel for some more sleep.
I spent most of the morning in bed doing something I very rarely do.
Having a lie-in.
It was 10.30 before I was up and about but hey, we had nowhere to be. I had some breakfast and watched some telly whilst Louise slept on. Once she arose she wanted to go out for breakfast. Clearly, as I had already had mine I would just get a drink or something at Boheme Bistro.
I don’t know how to explain why the waitress brought me this to be honest….
It was definite brunch/early lunch territory so Louise went for a BLT.
Eating Hobbit style, with a middle breakfast, might just be the lifestyle I’ve been looking for.
Leaving $60 including tip, we set off back to the hotel to take up our positions by the pool. It was rammed today, with two other people crowding us.
Louise ignored the “you have to wait for an hour after eating before going in the pool” rule….
I cowered in the shade as certain body parts were still a little well done. We only had to move beds once today to chase the shade, but I did have to make several dashes back to the room for reasons I won’t go into, but I was very glad we were not at the beach today. Nobody wants *that* in the water.
With little else to report other than more of the same for the rest of the day, Louise went back to the room around 5.30 to start getting ready and I stayed out by the pool for a bit reading.
I showered and readied around 6.30 and we nipped out to Publix for “bits”.
We dropped the car off back at the hotel and ordered a Lyft. Stand by, because after a lot of nothing happening, there is about to be some mild drama.
We were picked up in a HUGE Toyota Sequoia by a lovely female driver. Delray was rammed, being the start of the weekend, and once she got us within striking distance of our restaurant of choice, we jumped out of the car in the middle of backed-up traffic and jogged unathletically across the road to avoid death.
We walked the remaining distance to Rocco’s Tacos and approached the podium. Upon hearing my accent the young girl trying to sort us a table asked which part of London I was from. Vocally, Dick Van Dyke I am not. I rolled my eyes and explained roughly where we lived and she explained that she lived in Cambridge when she was very young as her Dad was in the Air Force, stationed in the UK.
Pleasant chat over, she asked for my mobile number so she could text me. I thought that was a little bold with Louise stood next to me, but after a few awkward moments, it turns out she meant when the table was ready.
We started walking to the bar, and I did one of 300 daily pocket pats, ensuring I had my car keys, phone, etc. A sudden sickness came over me as I felt the emptiness of one pocket. Looking paler than milk I realised I had left my phone in the Lyft!
We ran outside, knowing she had long gone and with panic raging, I grabbed Louise’s phone and tried to call mine. It would not connect.
I tried to log into my Lyft account on Louise’s phone so that I could message the driver, but that wasn’t possible as it sent a verification code to my phone!
I logged into my iCloud on Louise’s phone and could see my phone moving, so it was definitely in the car, but that was driving away from Delray.
With my mind swimming with the horrors of dealing with losing my phone whilst away, I sent the sound alarm thing to my phone many times. I then tried calling it via every method available, Messenger, WhatsApp and the like. Finally, what felt like a thousand minutes later, the driver picked up. She had heard me pinging it and realised what had happened. She very kindly agreed to bring it back to Delray once she had finished her current drop-off.
I cannot describe the feeling of relief.
We stood outside the restaurant for about 20 minutes, having gone back inside to tell them that there was no point texting me yet and I explained why.
Eventually, she pulled up and I could have dragged her through the passenger window and kissed her. Instead, I gave her the maximum tip the app would allow which was the better option for everyone all things considered..
With my sheen of sweat now subsiding, we claimed our table and sat down to eat. This was the second time that I have left my phone in a taxi whilst overseas and I can only blame the poor pocketage on my very attractive holiday shorts.
We started with some chips and Guac. Enough to sink a battleship.
We ordered a Margharita each.
and ordered the same entree….a salad….
Honest! It was called a Taco Salad Bowl and it was awesome. This was our best meal so far, perhaps enhanced by the surge of adrenaline still pumping through my body, but we paid the $120 including tip happily and left.
We strolled down to Johnny Brown’s, a bar that always seemed to have live music on. It was absolutely packed. It was a literal fight to get a drink and we somehow bagged a table right outside the restrooms. Maybe that was why.
We’ve had better views.
The band were decent but the thought of another trip to the bar and the feeling that we were getting eaten alive by something drove us to seek another venue.
We ended up in the Yacht Club again where another band was playing. This place was much less crowded and civilized and we had a few drinks here whilst listening to the band, who, again were pretty good. Unlike my photography.
We jumped in a Lyft home around midnight and bed swallowed us up as eagerly as I had that Taco Salad earlier.
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