Thursday, September 29, 2011

SoBe It: Updates from Miami & the Bahamas, PART 2

In and around Miami, Beth and I discovered lots of art, some of the most memorable being sculptures.  

There is a very nice beachside park maintained by the city of Miami that is reminiscent of Santa Monica.  Our first day in, we explored it.  Here are a few of the highlights (i.e., what we happened to take pictures of):

This looks like a tribute to the middle character of email addresses, but it is actually a slide.  You enter from the back (where I'm popping up from) then continue up the spiral staircase, then slide down.  Marble is apparently one of the slidier stone materials, because for only sliding a few feet, I actually had a lot of momentum by the end.

There goes my G-rating for the blog.


Not spectacular, but what's a park without a fountain?
OK, so I'm using "sculpture" a little loosely here, but someone had to sculpt those shoes, right?  This is outside of Bubba Gump's restaurant in a indoor/outdoor shopping area north of the park.


Day 2 we headed over to Miami Beach and did some more walking and driving around, when we stumbled upon the Holocaust Memorial.  Yes, it's in Miami Beach; we were surprised, too.  But I guess college students on spring break don't want to just get drunk and party.  They also want to be reminded of historical atrocities with graphic and breathtaking sculptures and engraved-on-stone timelines and photographs.  I guess.

In all seriousness, this really is the most effective memorial I have ever come across in my life.  It's stunning and explicit, but is not tasteless, gaudy, or inappropriate.  You can read about it here.




The 3D art didn't stop once we got on the cruise.  This is a rare towel sculpture, probably dating to the third century B.C.  Uh, I'm remembering it being a dog, but from this picture, it looks more like a frozen chicken.

All the good towel sculptors work on cruise ships.
More updates to follow.

-THP

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