Thursday 10th May 2007. Miami, Florida.

Well I am back on the Intracoastal in Florida.(If my memory serves me right the last time I was here was on New Years Eve 1999 when I began my epic flight back from Ft Lauderdale to Scotland in time to bring in the New Millennium).

This time I am in Miami and living in the iconic King Cole building with its Rat Pack history.

This morning Wendy and I head out on a drive amongst the quite amasing homes here in South Florida's swing city. My drive takes me around the mansions of Miami Beach, including the Disney-like castle at 4462 North Bay Road.

Our main purpose today though is to try and find the computer and we leave no stone unturned. We hit the airport taxi stand, the driver's off-duty rank, the airport lost and found, the Miami-Dade police...the search is exhaustive...but with no success.

In the late afternoon it is time for lunch in the trendy Lincoln Road district where we eat at the Cafe of Books and Books in the art deco Sterling Building.

The architecture of this area owes a great deal to Morris Lapidus who was born in 1902 in Odessa, Russia and who emigrated with his family to the lower east side of New York City.

In 1927 he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in architecture with his early enthusiasm being for theatrical set design. This evolved into a stellar career in retail store design before he moved to Miami Beach in the late 1940's where his focused shifted to the design of major hotel interiors.

He designed the Fontainebleau Hotel (1953) where Sinatra etc performed, on the site of the Harvey Firestone estate and in 1959 he redesigned six blocks of Lincoln Road removing all automobiles and transforming it into a pedestrian mall. His architecture makes great use of sweeping curves and joyful motifs and as he said "I designed Lincoln Road for people, a car never bought anything!".

My tour of the Lincoln Road district with Wendy and Mark takes in such highlights as the Lincoln Theater and the Colony Theater as well as a visit to the Banana Republic store housed in a former bank where the vault is now used as the changing rooms.

From this area with its mix of art deco and spanish mission style architecture to a tour of the deco style garden apartments that were built initially for the snow-birds...I loved my tour of the city's buildings and enjoyed details such as the fresco on the Hotel Clinton on Washington Avenue.

Art deco touches are everywhere and every building from the Colony Hotel to the Waldorf Towers on Ocean Drive is a treasure. From the clean lines of the Victor to the Clevelander Hotel revamp (a project with which Wendy is associated)...even the colonial style of the Betsy Ross somehow seems fitting...but the highlight is seeing the Versace home where Gianni met his end.

Then there are the less famous gems on Collins which also has the Delano and the Shore Club.

We also headed out to see spanish mission Española Way where we aim to eat Sunday night.

From little apartment block to little apartment block from deco to mission and the canals...this city is an architectural treasure with buildings like the Cadillac that would be stars elsewhere, but here they are just another of the plethora of gems.

I have noticed in Miami already that everybody has a "thang goin on". It is storyville and the official sport is people watching; from the body beautiful to the maids, I enjoy interpreting everyones lives.

We head back home for early evening cocktails on the terrace to watch the sunset with Wendy and Miriam before we are off out to Specchio on Harding Avenue to dine with the girls and Debbie and Johnny.

The food was excellent and the service exceptional. This restaurant is well worth the visit if you are in town. Popular with locals and educated tourists this is a must-eat if you are in Miami.

After dinner its back home with the crowd for a late night political debate.

A good day all round!