We have found two amazing things in Auckland that Sydney is totally lacking. These are two VERY important things that must be located wherever I am going to live.
American Style Pizza and Mexican Food!
I found Sal’s Famous New York Pizza in Auckland while surfing online and thought that it is probably some tourist trap that is there to suck in all the Americans searching for good pizza. We went to Sal’s one night last week and it was like a little taste of home. The sauce was perfect the cheese was fabulously greasy and there were no strange ingredients on it like mussels or avocados or eggs. So, I folded it in half, let the grease drip out and thought about home.
One of Jason’s co-workers in the Sydney office told him about the Mexican Café on Victoria Street and we went straight there our first night in Auckland. We got tacos and enchiladas and it came with rice and beans and the atmosphere was colorful and fun as you would expect at any good Mexican place. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and lived happily after not having good Mexican food for eight months. God only knows who was in the kitchen as I haven’t seen a Mexican since arriving here but nice work whoever it was! I thought that maybe we were biased that night because we were exhausted and didn’t know of anywhere else to go but we had it again the other night and it did not disappoint. Man, I love Mexican food!
**Sorry to all my friends in Sydney where this just doesn’t exist. I’m sure your mouths are watering just hearing about it.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Random Thoughts
Our first New Zealand road trip was a major success! To give credit where credit is due, the success is based entirely on the fact that Abigail was AMAZING in the car. She was perfectly content to sleep, eat and play in the car. What a difference from when she was an infant and would scream the second she looked at the car. Maybe all she needed was a distraction. On this particular trip the distraction was the sheep and cows. I’m not kidding when I say that we drove for four days and there was not a time when we were further than 2 minutes away from seeing the next sheep or cow. When Abby would get restless all I had to do was moo like a cow or ask her if she could find a sheep and BOOM, distraction! Believe it or not, it never got old.
Just some things that have been roaming around in my head lately:
When I was young and learning that in “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, I thought that America was a really old country. That quickly changed as I became more aware of the world around me and traveled to Ireland and England. I soon realized that in comparison to Europe, America is actually a young country. Way to go America for doing what you’ve done in only 500 odd years; but still just a toddler compared to Europe. I held this belief all the way until we moved to Sydney and found that Australia was even younger being founded only in the 1700’s. Just a wee baby! How they missed this giant land mass in the ocean is beyond me. And now, come to find out that we visited the oldest building in Keri Keri, New Zealand this weekend and it was built around 1850! That’s only marginally older (when we are talking about the age of countries) than our house in Philly. What does this all mean, and why is it so important, I’m not sure. But maybe that is why Australia and New Zealand are still Commonwealth countries that pledge allegiance to the Queen…they just haven’t gone through their terrible two’s yet.
Philadelphians vs. Sydneysiders vs. Kiwis. They each have their good attributes and their bad (and I will have to get into specifics later) but I have to say that Kiwis win from my prospective as a stay at home mom of a two year old trying to get around an unfamiliar city with a stroller. First of all, the stroller is typically empty and Abby is walking alongside so it just becomes another thing to keep track of. We went to the Wintergardens in the Domain today which has two conservatories and a fernery (Kiwis love their ferns) as well as a fish pond and lily pond. Auckland is nowhere near as good as Sydney with making all things accessible so since Abby was walking anyway we headed up the stairs with me bumping the stroller up each step backwards. There was another couple there carrying their stroller up the steps as well. When they got to the top, they let their two year old out of the stroller and BOTH of them came down to help me; one to help carry the stroller and the other to hold Abby’s hand. Well, shit, I’ll just head home then, have a great day! Kiwis are nice people but they should watch out for their own…their two year old headed straight for the fish pond and almost fell in!
In the United States everything is done on the right (because right hand people rule the world). You drive on the right and so it makes sense that when walking you stay to the right. When we arrived in Sydney and the driving was on the left I assumed that you would then stay to the left on the sidewalk. That is only sometimes the case. With a city that is full of tourists, people just walk wherever they damn want, including right into you if they are busy texting and you are in their way. Now in Auckland, where they also drive on the left, it appears as though it is almost customary to stay to the right when walking. Now, this may seem like a trivial thing but Abby and I do A LOT of walking and I try to follow the law of the land if only to make my life easier. But what I’m finding is that I am constantly dancing with people on the street; and not attractive young men that might be fun to do a quick salsa with. I’m talking about teenagers on skateboards, moms with strollers four abreast and creepy old men that smell and have no teeth. Everyone needs to just choose a side, and the right is the correct side!
Just some things that have been roaming around in my head lately:
When I was young and learning that in “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, I thought that America was a really old country. That quickly changed as I became more aware of the world around me and traveled to Ireland and England. I soon realized that in comparison to Europe, America is actually a young country. Way to go America for doing what you’ve done in only 500 odd years; but still just a toddler compared to Europe. I held this belief all the way until we moved to Sydney and found that Australia was even younger being founded only in the 1700’s. Just a wee baby! How they missed this giant land mass in the ocean is beyond me. And now, come to find out that we visited the oldest building in Keri Keri, New Zealand this weekend and it was built around 1850! That’s only marginally older (when we are talking about the age of countries) than our house in Philly. What does this all mean, and why is it so important, I’m not sure. But maybe that is why Australia and New Zealand are still Commonwealth countries that pledge allegiance to the Queen…they just haven’t gone through their terrible two’s yet.
Philadelphians vs. Sydneysiders vs. Kiwis. They each have their good attributes and their bad (and I will have to get into specifics later) but I have to say that Kiwis win from my prospective as a stay at home mom of a two year old trying to get around an unfamiliar city with a stroller. First of all, the stroller is typically empty and Abby is walking alongside so it just becomes another thing to keep track of. We went to the Wintergardens in the Domain today which has two conservatories and a fernery (Kiwis love their ferns) as well as a fish pond and lily pond. Auckland is nowhere near as good as Sydney with making all things accessible so since Abby was walking anyway we headed up the stairs with me bumping the stroller up each step backwards. There was another couple there carrying their stroller up the steps as well. When they got to the top, they let their two year old out of the stroller and BOTH of them came down to help me; one to help carry the stroller and the other to hold Abby’s hand. Well, shit, I’ll just head home then, have a great day! Kiwis are nice people but they should watch out for their own…their two year old headed straight for the fish pond and almost fell in!
In the United States everything is done on the right (because right hand people rule the world). You drive on the right and so it makes sense that when walking you stay to the right. When we arrived in Sydney and the driving was on the left I assumed that you would then stay to the left on the sidewalk. That is only sometimes the case. With a city that is full of tourists, people just walk wherever they damn want, including right into you if they are busy texting and you are in their way. Now in Auckland, where they also drive on the left, it appears as though it is almost customary to stay to the right when walking. Now, this may seem like a trivial thing but Abby and I do A LOT of walking and I try to follow the law of the land if only to make my life easier. But what I’m finding is that I am constantly dancing with people on the street; and not attractive young men that might be fun to do a quick salsa with. I’m talking about teenagers on skateboards, moms with strollers four abreast and creepy old men that smell and have no teeth. Everyone needs to just choose a side, and the right is the correct side!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
It's been awhile...
...and that's all I'm going to say about that! We are now in Auckland, NZ and the adventure continues.
We arrived at the Chifley Suites which on first glance looked a bit rundown and old but now after having been here a few days is actually pretty nice. After taking 20 minutes to check in while Abby is melting down because she is so tired, we head up to the lucky 13th floor. I don't believe in superstitions and I'm just happy to be high up in the building so up we go. Will we have a nice balcony to sit on with a good view? The excitement builds. Unlocking the door and stepping inside we reveal a clean, nicely furnished albeit mostly gray, two bedroom, two bathroom, teeny tiny apartment. I realize just how small it is when I get up this morning and literally take 5 steps to get from my bed to the couch, and I've also gone through the kitchen! It's small but nice and the three of us do well in small places. I used to consider our house in Philly small...HA! A peek out on the balcony and it seems to me that something has gone wrong in the design process of this building. It's not quite a juliet balcony where there's a door that you just look out of, you can actually step out onto it. But, if you had feet any larger than mine, you might not fit. I'll miss our nights talking and drinking out on the balcony in Sydney.
A few other oddities exist in the place and I find that they make me laugh every time I encounter them. The window in the lounge has a little toggle switch that you hold on open and the window slowly and mechanically (and loudly!) cranks open. The little sign on the window amuses me, "This window may operate at anytime and must be kept clear at all times". I imagine sitting on the couch on a cold night and the window decides it's time to crank open. Brrrr...In actuality it's part of the smoke evacuation system for the building but I enjoy the sign and hope it never opens on its own.
Now, for the bathrooms, there's two of them, but neither with a bath. Which poor Abby is not too happy about and neither am I. I enjoy my showers, turning them really hot and just standing there. Now, my showers are luke warm if that and I have Abby holding on to my leg yelling, "turn it off!" I think I may just start taking two showers a day. One with Abby for cleaning purposes and one by myself at night for relaxing. We shower in the 2nd bathroom. Jason, who showers in the master (I use that term lightly) bath, really should think about ditching that one and heading to the 2nd bathroom for his showers. The master bath is shaped like a triangle and the hypotenuse is probably only three feet long...and that's the longest side of the triangle for those of you that didn't pass geometry. I can hear him banging his elbows and dropping stuff all over the place every morning.
And lastly, the kitchen. It's going to be a challenge that's for sure. The first is that the fridge (which is perfect size for Abby) only fits about two days worth of food. Then there's the stove which only has two electric burners and then the cookware which consists of one pan and two pots. I think I will be able to work with what we have but it might not taste so great, especially since it's not a non-stick pan. I don't understand these pans and I am terrible at cooking with them. Maybe that smoke evacuation window will come in handy after all.
Tuesday, the 12th of April was Jason's first day of work here and my first day out in a new city alone. Just like we did in Sydney, I packed some lunches, threw a bag together (don't forget the map), and headed out. We stepped outside mid-morning and found that it was a beautiful day, lucky us! Abby told me, "It's chilly" so we stopped to put on coats. One thing that Sydney has prepared me for is to pack everything when going out for the day. So, I had coats, sunhats, umbrella, extra shorts and t-shirt, the list goes on and the bag is big. We walked down Albert St. towards the water as there is always an indescribable pull towards the water. It was the first thing I wanted to see in this "city of sails". We arrived on Quay Street at the ferry wharves and I was a bit disappointed. Looking back I realize my expectations were unrealistic coming from Sydney where at the ferry wharves you have the Opera House to one side and Harbour Bridge to the other. But the ferry building was beautiful and had cute cafes that I will have to stop at to indulge my coffee habit. We were now out in full sun and it felt great; the coats came off and the hats went on. There was also quite a bit of construction down on the wharves. Normally I would enjoy stopping to see what they are working on and hopefully file away some detail for use when I am back at work, but it just killed the view.
We continued on our walk with both of us walking now. This is usually how the day goes, Abby lasts about 10 minutes in the stroller/pram/buggy/push-car and then wants to get out and walk herself. So, I race to get where we are going and then let her out and we travel at about 1/10th the speed and I push the stroller next to her. I have to give her credit though, she loves to walk!
We arrive at Viaduct Harbour, what used to be the commercial harbour of the city but has been transformed with upscale cafes and apartments and a beautiful waterside walkway. It was also the site of the 2000 America's Cup which everyone seems super excited about but I'm not even sure what that is...some sailing race I imagine. But how, after 11 years are they still all pumped up about it?
Heading back to the apartment to be sure that Abby gets her afternoon nap, we walk through the city and in the shade of the buildings Abby lets me know again that, "it's chilly". So, coats go back on, only to come off when we get back inside. It was a good first day and I'm sure there will be many more to come.
We arrived at the Chifley Suites which on first glance looked a bit rundown and old but now after having been here a few days is actually pretty nice. After taking 20 minutes to check in while Abby is melting down because she is so tired, we head up to the lucky 13th floor. I don't believe in superstitions and I'm just happy to be high up in the building so up we go. Will we have a nice balcony to sit on with a good view? The excitement builds. Unlocking the door and stepping inside we reveal a clean, nicely furnished albeit mostly gray, two bedroom, two bathroom, teeny tiny apartment. I realize just how small it is when I get up this morning and literally take 5 steps to get from my bed to the couch, and I've also gone through the kitchen! It's small but nice and the three of us do well in small places. I used to consider our house in Philly small...HA! A peek out on the balcony and it seems to me that something has gone wrong in the design process of this building. It's not quite a juliet balcony where there's a door that you just look out of, you can actually step out onto it. But, if you had feet any larger than mine, you might not fit. I'll miss our nights talking and drinking out on the balcony in Sydney.
A few other oddities exist in the place and I find that they make me laugh every time I encounter them. The window in the lounge has a little toggle switch that you hold on open and the window slowly and mechanically (and loudly!) cranks open. The little sign on the window amuses me, "This window may operate at anytime and must be kept clear at all times". I imagine sitting on the couch on a cold night and the window decides it's time to crank open. Brrrr...In actuality it's part of the smoke evacuation system for the building but I enjoy the sign and hope it never opens on its own.
Now, for the bathrooms, there's two of them, but neither with a bath. Which poor Abby is not too happy about and neither am I. I enjoy my showers, turning them really hot and just standing there. Now, my showers are luke warm if that and I have Abby holding on to my leg yelling, "turn it off!" I think I may just start taking two showers a day. One with Abby for cleaning purposes and one by myself at night for relaxing. We shower in the 2nd bathroom. Jason, who showers in the master (I use that term lightly) bath, really should think about ditching that one and heading to the 2nd bathroom for his showers. The master bath is shaped like a triangle and the hypotenuse is probably only three feet long...and that's the longest side of the triangle for those of you that didn't pass geometry. I can hear him banging his elbows and dropping stuff all over the place every morning.
And lastly, the kitchen. It's going to be a challenge that's for sure. The first is that the fridge (which is perfect size for Abby) only fits about two days worth of food. Then there's the stove which only has two electric burners and then the cookware which consists of one pan and two pots. I think I will be able to work with what we have but it might not taste so great, especially since it's not a non-stick pan. I don't understand these pans and I am terrible at cooking with them. Maybe that smoke evacuation window will come in handy after all.
Tuesday, the 12th of April was Jason's first day of work here and my first day out in a new city alone. Just like we did in Sydney, I packed some lunches, threw a bag together (don't forget the map), and headed out. We stepped outside mid-morning and found that it was a beautiful day, lucky us! Abby told me, "It's chilly" so we stopped to put on coats. One thing that Sydney has prepared me for is to pack everything when going out for the day. So, I had coats, sunhats, umbrella, extra shorts and t-shirt, the list goes on and the bag is big. We walked down Albert St. towards the water as there is always an indescribable pull towards the water. It was the first thing I wanted to see in this "city of sails". We arrived on Quay Street at the ferry wharves and I was a bit disappointed. Looking back I realize my expectations were unrealistic coming from Sydney where at the ferry wharves you have the Opera House to one side and Harbour Bridge to the other. But the ferry building was beautiful and had cute cafes that I will have to stop at to indulge my coffee habit. We were now out in full sun and it felt great; the coats came off and the hats went on. There was also quite a bit of construction down on the wharves. Normally I would enjoy stopping to see what they are working on and hopefully file away some detail for use when I am back at work, but it just killed the view.
We continued on our walk with both of us walking now. This is usually how the day goes, Abby lasts about 10 minutes in the stroller/pram/buggy/push-car and then wants to get out and walk herself. So, I race to get where we are going and then let her out and we travel at about 1/10th the speed and I push the stroller next to her. I have to give her credit though, she loves to walk!
We arrive at Viaduct Harbour, what used to be the commercial harbour of the city but has been transformed with upscale cafes and apartments and a beautiful waterside walkway. It was also the site of the 2000 America's Cup which everyone seems super excited about but I'm not even sure what that is...some sailing race I imagine. But how, after 11 years are they still all pumped up about it?
Heading back to the apartment to be sure that Abby gets her afternoon nap, we walk through the city and in the shade of the buildings Abby lets me know again that, "it's chilly". So, coats go back on, only to come off when we get back inside. It was a good first day and I'm sure there will be many more to come.
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