Florida

Sick of the seven-day rain. Well, then visit the home of oceandriver and come to

Sunny Florida

There are many Ocean Drive on this globe, but only one where Oceandriver was born. And it was not his physical birth, it was the beginning of an idea, of a legend, of a living. Florida seems never to change, but it changes the people who visit the southernmost state of the United States; for a reason you only find out by getting Florida to know

Unfortunately, my space on the net is limited, so I have to pick some of Floridas feature I find is worth to mention. First, you will meet a special place to enjoy life: Fort Lauderdale. Then, I have some tipps where to party in South Florida (I hope there is no need to tell you how). A special adventure I experienced is the date with Irene. More about that in the third section. And finally Orlando should not be missed, so I will give some advise for kids and adults (sometimes the same). Life is beautiful!!

Visit the Venice of the United States:

Fort Lauderdale

Miami Beach is probably better known that its smaller sister in the north, but in comparison of

the overall the two cities have to offer, Fort Lauderdale gives a better living. It is a place to life, it is a place to party, it is a place to work and it is a place to enjoy. Think about it: You have less crowed beaches, lower prices (not if you shop at the beachfront or at Las Olas, dummy) and nothing is missed that another city has to offer. Fort Lauderdale got its nice little restaurants right at the waterways, nice parks and beaches and believe me, going out is great if you know where to go.

Oceandrivers Advise: Downtown is nothing special for tourists, but pretty cool for party-animals. Dining at the beachfront is nice, finding a similar restaurant at the waterway is nicer. Christmas is great, even in Fort Lauderdale. The nicest place: Las Olas Boulevard. Fort Lauderdale is great for shopping too. My favorite places are: Swap Shop (Sunrise) with a circus during the day and a drive-in movie at night and Sawgrass Mills, one of the largest outlet stores you ever seen. Awesome! Last but not least consider Fort Lauderdale if you want to settle down in Florida. For living it is a hillarious place!

I hava a confession to make:

I am a party-animal

Hey, I heard that!! You said I am talking to much? OK, I will keep it short this time, to satisfy you city-rushies!!

I focus on some advise where to party in South Florida:

Key West, Duval Street! Try Hog's Breath... Good music and party!

Miami South Beach! Mango's Cafe, Clevelander and many more... If you looking for the famous clubs: Washington Avenue between 5th and 8th Street, but if you wanna go in, dress properly.

Bayfront Miami. Sportfreaks celebrate after the game at American Airline-stadion in the Hooters!

Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale. I spent my milleniums celebration there, so it's gotta be good. The big ones are not at riverfront itself, but around the corner at SW 2nd Street.

Fort Lauderdale's Beach Place at the beachfront: Shops, clubs and bars in one building with an awesome view on the ocean!

Palm Beach, Gatsby's: Relaxed pool-playing like the upper crust, something different to party...

A special adventure: The date with Irene

I did not count on Irene, but suddenly she was standing at my door. She stayed over night, leaving nothing standing as it was before and left as quick as she came. You probably think I am talking about a girl, but you're wrong!

Thursday, October 14, 1999
It was raining like hell  when I was stucked in the usual 08:07-AM-traffic jam on I-95. They did mention something about a hurricane over Cuba in the radio that might move in our direction. I took it as the usual 'music-disturbance'  and continued my way to the office. A couple of tourists (probably those scared to death) were evactuated from the Keys, when I reached the office. Well, nothing to worry about, the last hurricane (Floyd) had a sudden break before jumping to his right, as if he wanted to tell us: Surprise folks, I am heading another way! Whatever, in my 'let's-face-another-hurricane-routine' I did the necessary and since no radio nor newspaper seemed to seriously care about it, I did not either. By the end of the day, Hurricane Irene became 'degraded' into a tropical strom.

Friday October 15; morning
It was raining more and Tropical Storm was a Hurricane again, only 20 miles south of Key West heading toward us. How cute, another weekend falling into water! Floridas west coast started evacuating on a voluntary basis. Made sense to me that those who were furthest away should evacuating first. Whatever, the whole west coast was under Hurricane warning, so they gotta be right. And on our site there was nothing, so I continued with my daily work.

Friday October 15; around 3 PM
My colleague from the office next to ours asked how the folks on the west coast are doing. I had business there so I must be informed about it. Well, I found out that evacuation had stopped, since it was nice and sunny over there. Here it was raining like shit and it looked like another weekend in front of the TV. Strange was though that our neighbor offices closed already. Nice for them, I thought, but did not think any further.

Friday October 15; 3.30PM
The weather in Fort Lauderdale turned worse every hour. Alright, I understood that there was no beach this weekend, but that was ridiculous. Wind was blowing like crazy, rain was pouring down and the first few floodings covered the parking lot in front of our office. My colleague from the other office told me that the mare asked all citizen to leave work and shelter at home if work was not necessary. Great, than my boss though work was always necessary and asked my to stay. After all, there was no hurricane warnung or offical evacuation and since I was not experienced nor advised what to do or whom to listen in a case like that, I stayed.

Friday October 15, 4.00 PM
The fire alarm went off every minute in our building. Now what, someone's playing with the sirenes? My colleague arrived at home meanwhile, called me up and asked me to leave. The weather was expected to turn worse! Alright, I decided to ignore the order of my boss and started to pack my stuff together.

Friday October 15, 4.30 PM
I was late. The next few phone calls convinced me that it was a mistake to stay. One of our customers told me he was not able to get into Miami since the airport has been closed. O-ho, bad message one. Second one told me that there was no hurricane expected to come to the west coast anymore. O-ho, bad message number two. Now, I was scared. Outside, the branches were falling off the tree as the wind knocked them out, one by one. No official warning, no evacuation, no hurricane? Bullshit, this was hurricane Irene out there, smiling from outside the window. Seconds later, all sirenes went off in town.

Friday October 15, 5 PM
Hurricane Irene was over Homestead, winds were up to 85 miles per hour and the bitch was heading straight towards us. Everything was packed, I went outside. It looked like the end of the world. The parking turned into a big lake, branches and traffic lights fell on the streets like snow and there was wind as strong as I hardly could walk. I did not even manage to get the car door open; I had to enter the car through the passenger door. I was heading home. The street was packed with traffic, everyone was heading home as soon as possible. Sometimes the water on the street flooded over the bonnet of my car. I was afraid I would be stuck in one of the floods, but I was lucky. Some trees were down already, lying on the street and blocking traffic. It was a horrible drive home.

Friday October 15, 6 PM
I arrived at home. Our house was in a big lake, luckly I was living in the first floor. Neighbors on the ground floor left, no idea where. I watched the weather channel. Hurricane Irene was about 10 miles southwest of my location, heading directly here. Well, I made some dinner and watched TV until power failed. Sleeping time!

Saturday, October 16, 1999
It was over. Over night, Irene raced over the country and out to sea. The damage was done. Millions of households would remain without power, flooding made a lot of people leaving their house. A tornado stroke into a bar in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The rest of the weekend, we would spend with fixing all problems and working hard to get everything and everybody back on track.

There was no warning, no evacuation. Nobody thought that hurricane Irene would hit us, a tiny little number one hurricane. I learned a lot, about myself, about what other people say and I also learned what to do in the middle of a hurricane. Listen to myself would be a start!!

Entertainment for every kind of people:

Orlando

Everybody knows about the home of Mickey Mouse. The Entertainment city of Florida grew and I am sad to say, so did the prices. No longer is Walt Disney World a place everybody can afford.

Still, if you want to give yourself a little treat, then you should do it. You will find below some great itinerary for the parks, based on my experiences. If you know WDW already or you wanna see something else while you're up, then I have some great alternatives for Mickey and E.T.

For the following parks, you should reserve at least a day:
Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Epcot
Universal Studios: Island of Adventure

The following parks might be done in half a day:
Walt Disney World: Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios
Universal Studios: Universal Studios

Alternatives for Mickey and E.T.
- If you are a Naturfreak, then you must go to Blue Spring State Park, about an hour north of Orlando. You are able to see one of Florida's most endangered species: the Manatees. You can swim, hike or simply relax there. Important: Don't go there if it rains!
- Kennedy Space Center at Port Canaveral (about one hour east of Orlando) is definitly worth a trip. If you plan your visit a couple of weeks before a shuttle launch, you will able to see it from the far. The IMAX-3D-movies are awesome and even if you are not into space-stuff, you will like it.