In my previous blogs I have stressed that how important it is for graduate students to take a break from time to time in order to refresh the mind and come back to work with a more energy and vigor. On this note, my best friend and me have established a ritual where in we take a few days off from our graduate school regime and go for a fun vacation to a particular place which eventually ends up being a great reunion and a refreshing break from work. So this year our vacation destination was Miami in the Sunshine State - Florida. I would like to make this more of a travel blog and share some information with you about things you can do and places you can visit in Miami, Florida over a span of 4 days.
 
Sticking to our well-planned itinerary, we reached our destination Miami, which is an absolute cultural mélange with people present from all parts of the world. The clear water of the ocean, great food and an electrical ambience, made me and my bff fall in love with Miami. We started our Miami tour by visiting the famous South Beach, a quiet family friendly beach where you can sit on the sand and enjoy the view and also take some dip in the ocean. The beach is lined by a series of restaurants and hotels whose architecture is heavily inspired by South American countries and that stretch is called the Ocean drive. After having a great brunch at one of the local restaurants of the ocean drive, we decided to go and check out the Bayshore area of Miami. Essentially a quiet area, the Bayshore of Miami has an adjoining park, filled with greenery and also benches where you can sit and gaze at the breathtaking view in front of you. There is a Hard Rock Café right in the park with an open balcony, from where you can see the sun setting on Miami while sipping on some refreshing cocktail.
 
For the next day we decided to explore the famous Cuban neighborhood of Miami or Little Havana. This place was such a pleasure to visit. You can literally hear the streets churning out stories from the past about how the Cubans moved into the US and carved out their little niche. Starting from the famous Cuban coffee to the mouth watering Cuban food to Cuban music, Little Havana is a must place to visit when in Miami.
 
Our next stop was the Wynwood District which is essentially a place filled with walls with a variety of wall art done on them. The art is colorful and immensely quirky. The abstract nature of these wall paintings helps your mind to wander around and imagine anything and everything as a message radiating from the walls. The Wynwood District is also house to a small art museum where you can see artists working on their new pieces of art and a lot of other work of art hung on the walls. The place is certainly a treat to the eyes and also your mind. After spending a considerable amount of time amidst the colorful wall art, my friend and I decided to try out some more Cuban food and we ended up visiting the famous restaurant called The Versailles in Miami. The décor and the ambience of that place was a great way to end our trip with some delicious Cuban food. A very quintessential part of the Cuban cuisine is the Cuban sandwich and this restaurant definitely did a great work in serving us with some great Cuban sandwich. When in Miami, one cannot leave the place without indulging into some seafood. The Versailles restaurant has a great seafood menu to offer at a very reasonable price and the quality of food was amazing. So if you are in Miami and looking for a place to try out some great local cuisine, The Versailles is a good option to visit.
 
So with that my friend and I ended our beautiful trip exploring one of the most vibrant cities of the sunshine state. It was a great break and now I am all psyched to get back to my work.

Sreyashree Bose | Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
 
Sreyashree is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the department of Biophysics and Biochemistry.