Crocodiles are scary...and so is Miami.

Arriving in South Beach around dinner time the Friday before Katie and Will's wedding, my parents and I decided to grab some food near our hotel. Luckily our hotel, the Royal Palm Resort, is located in the thick of things (and about a 30 second walk from the beach). We had heard good reviews about the restaurants on Ocean Drive and decided to head that way.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as a man holding a crocodile rushed toward me during our walking quest for food.

Watching the crocodile's snapping jaws chomp up and down towards my face, I managed to push my mom off the sidewalk and make her lose a shoe in the process of trying not to get eaten alive at such a young age.

As it turns out (thank goodness!), the crocodile was made of plastic and no one lost any limbs. Instead, our first Miami adventure ended in a big burst of laughter.

That aside, traveling from Munich to Miami was the craziest reverse culture shock I have ever experienced. Munich is clean, quiet, somewhat gray, and everything closes at 8:00pm. Reversely, from the loud boom-boom clubs to the colorful art deco architecture (and pretty much everything in between), Miami is quite the opposite of all that is Munich:

Ocean Drive, Take 1

Ocean Drive, Take 2

For a blogger, Miami provides so much material: rollerblading conventions for hundreds of middle-aged skaters, flocks of picture-taking tourists snapping shots of the sand, a topless sunbather massaging her lover on the beach in the midday heat, and lots old people acting silly. (I think I brought the average age our flight's passengers down by decades).

Upon my arrival to Miami, because of my culture shock, I had a little trouble handling the noise, the lights, and the under-dressed party-goers. To say the least, I was a bit overwhelmed. However, after a day in the 78 degree sun...in the middle of February...I began to learn the appeal of South Beach:

The Beach Outside of the Royal Palm Resort
(When I first walked out on the beach, I was with Katie and she said, "This is where I live." At that point, I was jealous.)

I. Love. Palm Trees.

After a beautiful wedding weekend, I was definitely not ready to leave the place where there's always a "party in the city where the heat is on." I would trade snow for sand any day. Yet, maybe somewhere just a little quieter...