Friday
was a long, expensive , tiring but fun day! It is on days like that I
feel every day of my life when I finally get home--it is as if I needed a
reminder I am old! LOL

We
went down to Miami Beach to see "Captain Phillips" at the Regal theatre
catching the 3:30 showing. (I posted the review yesterday.) The matinee
tickets were $9.50 each which is the highest we ever paid and it wasn't
even a 3D movie, but it was good so we were not complaining--that came
later.

We
got out of the movie at 6 PM and walked on Lincoln Road until we go to
Balan's where we had eaten before. Allen had crab linguine and iced tea
while I had Chinese noodles in a soy sauce with large shrimp--yep! That
old oxymoron!--and coffee. With tip our check came to $56. It didn't
come as a surprise because everything is expensive on Lincoln Road and
as I said we had eaten there before. The food was good but the special
added attraction, as always on the Road, is the passing parade. There
are more hot bodies (both sexes) during 'season' but there was still a
variety of eye candy to entertain us.

It
was when we went to pick up the cat at 7 PM that we, at least I, got
hit with sticker shock. It cost $20 to park!! Maybe we are spoiled but
most movie theatres in Fort Lauderdale have free parking, even the 
Riverfront theatre downtown we use to go to most Fridays gave you 3
hours free parking in the government garage! (By the way did I mention
that theatre closed? It wasn't surprising because every Friday we
expected to get there and see the doors locked. It was a huge place with
15 auditoriums, of which they eventually closed 5, and the whole
building had been a 'white elephant' since day 1 mainly because there
wasn't any parking. Along with the fact that the 4th owners of the
theatre didn't take very good care of it.

Next
we drove over to Miami to the Arsht Performing Arts Center. They have 3
tiers of parking depending on how far the particular lot is from the
theatre. Valet parking is $25 plus tip, the next lot,a  block away from
the theatre, is $10 and the 3rd one is $8. The parking lot we usually
went to, because it was so convenient, and yes cheap!, as it was right
off the Interstate which made it easy to get on after the show was over,
had closed because they were widening the roads and the government took
it over.

We
got out of "Mamma Mia!" at 10:40 and Allen dropped me off at Gateway 40
minutes later. (See my review now at broadwayshowbiz.com)

I
spent most of Saturday getting caught up on emails and web site
notifications plus writing reviews. How did I ever do all this plus
work?!?!?