Foreign flavor, South Florida flair

Make no mistake about it: This is a different Florida from Palm Beach, about 80 miles north on Interstate 95. When visiting Coral Gables, leave home the white pants and pastels you bought for Palm Beach - the getup is just too Anglo - and leave behind any social references to New York City or elsewhere (nobody cares).

For our visit, we chose the historic Biltmore hotel, which is bordered by two golf courses and which figured prominently in the development and popularization of the sport in the United States. The hotel, which opened in 1926, has recently undergone a fine renovation, including the L-shaped swimming pool, which is the largest in the continental United States. When you swim in it, you feel as though you are in a shallow, clear river; you navigate your way by water to multiple destinations - like a Mississippi steamboat making its rounds - visiting the waterfall in front of the poolside restaurant and assorted lounge-chair communities.

The main lobby has that courtly grand-hotel feel, with its carefully prepared tea service, sink-to-your-thighs comfy chairs, and large, wooden cages full of energetic finches. The building's tower is visible from a long distance, yet with only 275 rooms (nearly half of them suites), the hotel never feels crowded or overutilized, even when fully booked.

Our toddler, Ryan, made himself a favorite of the staff, who could not have been more accommodating. My wife and I knew we had turned a corner in Ryan's upbringing when the maid came to our junior suite to deliver his roll-away bed and tried unsuccessfully to address us in Spanish. Ryan, whose nanny speaks to him in Spanish, pointed to the opposite wall and explained, "She wants to put it there."

One Sunday morning, I booked massages for my wife and myself at the spa, which is quite the equal of those we have enjoyed at European grand hotels. When I asked what Ryan could do during that time, I was directed to something I had not seen at a luxury hotel: the Kids Spa. Cheryl, a masseuse who is the mother of a boy about Ryan's age, joined Ryan in the room, which is filled with toys. She played with Ryan and gave him a foot massage; we had to use all our powers of persuasion to get him to leave when his time was done.

The hotel's restaurants were so inviting that although we had a rental car and had intended to drive into town for dinner, we took most of our meals at the Biltmore.

Particularly outstanding was the gourmet restaurant, the Palme d'Or, where Patrick Calvarese, the charming French-born maître d'hôtel, took excellent care of us, guiding our selections and explaining their preparation and ingredients. My dinner started with the cantaloupe melon, a cold soup that came in a cocktail glass. The fruit rested atop a purple jelly made of aged port, which gave a powerful and exotic final punch to the dish. For dessert, I had a chocolate soufflé, perfectly accented with a house-made almond ice cream.

The more casual Italian restaurant, Fontana, was no less successful - indeed, quite a bargain for what was served - and it added the fun of alfresco dining. The punch line to this story: Only as we were leaving did we learn that, during our visit, the hotel was between executive chefs. Whoever takes over obviously has an impressive bench with which to play the culinary game.

I have family and friends all over the region, and many of our days were spent either hosting visitors at the hotel or going on visits ourselves. On the recommendation of our friend, South Florida travel writer Tom Swick (who was born in Easton, Pa., graduated from Villanova University, and wrote for a medical publication in Philadelphia in the 1980s), we visited Books & Books, which is rightfully regarded as one of the finest surviving independent bookstores in the country.

By chance, we arrived just as children's author Judy Schachner started speaking to an audience assembled in one of the dark-wood rooms that comprise the interior, each of which looks as though it has been pulled from a student bookshop in a New England college town. With its Mediterranean-style exterior and cerebral air, the store is a testament to the kind of life that Americans who do speak English could lead if only they cared more about their broad-ranging but nuanced language.

Although the nearby "Miracle Mile" shopping strip includes the usual shops that support resort living (including a large Barnes & Noble), you have to imagine that something uniquely complex is enriching daily life in Coral Gables if it can support this oasis of civilization.

South Florida will take American pluralism to extremes. Just a few blocks away, at the narrow and contentedly cluttered E & C Mini Market, the Cantonese-speaking staff kept up a steady dialogue with their customers in Spanish. Just beyond, the city's annual Hispanic Cultural Festival was taking place. Children played on blow-up carnival rides, and a teenaged troupe sang and danced with delightful exuberance to the kind of implacably forgettable pop music common to radios across the country.

On the famous golf courses of the region, however, golf remains golf: English is again the language of choice, and you can eat a hamburger at the adjoining restaurant (the one at the Biltmore is called the 19th Hole) without feeling as though you chose ethnic cuisine. Somehow, it all fits together, and in that uniquely American way, it is all made to work well enough for all concerned.

The beaches of South Beach are only about a 20-minute drive, which my wife and I took a few times. Ryan has been slowly warming to the idea of the beach, but what really got him excited when he joined Mommy on her second visit to South Beach was the discovery, right on the sand, of a golf cart. Convincing him to forsake it for dinner took both of us a bit of time.

Most great travel literature is about the solitary journey: the author heads out alone and responds to what he experiences. What made Coral Gables particularly interesting was that, moving through its streets on my own, I felt as though I were on the road in a new and curious place - that I was truly traveling; but the moment I had my wife and son with me, travel again became the tourist-friendly experience that Florida is set up to provide.

For anyone interested in cultural flavors not commonly found in the United States, leave your family at the Biltmore's spa or pool and walk around town a bit.

For those times when you want to enjoy it all as a family, you would be hard-pressed to find a more inviting place.

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