15th NZ Post: middle day in Auckland

Last post of the NZ trip. Very sad, somehow. We've already been back almost three weeks, in fact, and the realization of that is a blow, I tell you.

These are the "lost" photos of our middle day in Auckland. I had seen them before so I don't know why they went astray. Easily recovered, as it turns out. I'm sorry that, despite the warm day there, the sky was not clear blue. I'm also sorry that it they don't document our trip as well as I'd like. Ah well.

I played the tourist card that morning in Auckland, so our first destination was Sky Tower, the tallest structure in Oceania. The whole darn Southern Hemisphere, in fact. It certainly is an exclamation point on the skyline, and it does offer great views of the city.







The thing about Auckland - and in saying this I don't mean to disparage the city (though we really did like Wellington most of all) - is that it has an unique and unparalleled location on an isthmus. So much waterfront and harbour available to it. But for all that it's a city of sails, it's also a city of sprawl, and in some ways it's yet another large, kind of faceless city. Truthfully (did I say this before?), it reminds me of Toronto in how it somehow fails to capitalize on its best assets. But the ciew was still impressive from the tower observation decks, so I should quibble less, right?


Our main agenda (gay agenda, of course!) item that day was shopping. We roamed a small stretch of streets: High Street and things nearby. We did quite well for ourselves as well, and when summer hits Chicago (nice hint of spring the last two days, I should add), we'll break out some of the fun stuff to wear. No lunch for us. Rather, we ate a very very late breakfast at Tasca in Vulcan Lane. Conrad liked his scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and I was delighted not just with the well-prepared poached eggs and large portion of bacon, but the multigrain toast was exceptional. Truly.



And no shopping expedition could do without a spell sitting on a patio with coffees!


I wish I had better pictures of dinner that night. We did a poor job of photographing one of the best meals we've had anywhere. No, really. Dion and Minna had a reservation for the four of us at French Cafe. It's a simply decorated room, and the service is not of the polished sort we've had at places like Avenues with four people assigned to various duties at each table. What it did have was a menu from which it was difficult to select items because too many of them were intriguing. It also had polished service of a different sort - the woman who took care of our table actually took care of it but didn't make herself too much of a presence. Tough trick to pull off. She managed it with seeming ease.

We do have a few photos, though. Conrad and Minna both enjoyed a starter of Roasted goat's cheese sevred atop beets.I regret that my quail done five ways did not come out well in photos. The second best course I had in NZ the entire time, I think. On the other hand, we did capture the labels from the two wines we drank. I think that a bottle of the Mt. Difficulty is on its way overseas to us in our shipments.



My pink roasted lamb was also lovely. Can I admit that to the best of my recollection, this was the first time I'd had stuffed zucchini blossom?


We hope (fingers crossed) that we'll make it back to NZ in 2009. How wonderful that would be. For now, it's trying to clean our home and get myself doing some new and fun things in the kitchen. Joe puts me to shame with the wonders he comes up with. Those fig pinwheel cookies are so getting made here one day soon! As for travel, well, Baltimore, Austin, and Vancouver are all planned for the next three weeks, May will bring a work trip to Minneapolis, and June features Denver and DC. Really, though, some time at home will be nice!