Home
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe UPS Forum
Life After Brown
Around the world with Traveler
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="traveler" data-source="post: 260206" data-attributes="member: 1954"><p><strong>Re: Around the world with Traveller</strong></p><p></p><p>Wellington, what a beautiful little town, at least by US standards. This is the capitol of New Zealand and one of its larger cities but walking in the downtown area, though there are tall buildings, a small town feel is definitely there. Perhaps that was because our guide, Jennifer, who we employed for a "chocolate tour" of the city seemed to know every second person we passed. We met Jennifer at the railroad station which was about a half mile walk from the ship. We arrived a bit before the agreed on time and took a look inside the station. It looked somewhat like Penn Station in NYC though much smaller and at no time could we spot more that a half dozen people in there. There is actually a grocery store and a wine shop in the station. By the way, if you've been in Penn Station in NYC at 4:00 AM you would see more people at one look!</p><p></p><p>As we sat outside, I said to my wife that the approaching woman surely must be our guide. She had a cheerful look and a walk that gave her away. What a great guide. There was a limit of six people on any one tour and as it turned out, we were the only participants. This was to be a walking and public transportation tour and on the short walk to the city we passed the "Beehive" an interesting government building.</p><p></p><p>We arrived in a shopping area and entered a small mall. There we were shown some of the shops, ending at a chocolate shop. The showcases had literally hundreds of different chocolates. The pleasant clerk described the differences in types of confections and we were to pick two each. My wife and I shared the four to find what we liked best. The dark chocolate covered currents were by far our (her) best pick. So good that after we left, I decided to walk back and buy four more pieces for later consumption. Only four, you might wonder? These were reasonably good size treats and at $2.50 NZ each I thought four was plenty.</p><p></p><p>Our next stop was the cable car that takes one up a steep hill to a wonderful botanical garden and the Cable Car Museum. The museum is free and shows the original construction, near the turn of the twentieth century, through photos. The museum also has the original car restored along with another car that was retired in the 1970's.</p><p></p><p>There was an earthquake here in the early 20th century, before this cable car was built and their is a plaque denoting the original shore line just below this sign. During the earthquake the ground was raised about six to eight feet (if I remember correctly) putting this area firmly on solid? ground. This is now about a half mile from the present shore line.</p><p></p><p>We proceeded back down to the city and after a short walk arrived at an old bank building which was turned into an upscale shopping mall. There we were treated to a great cup of coffee and a break for a few minutes. Then we went to the basement where another chocolate shop was waiting. Again we were introduced to many different chocolates and each had two more. Great, but not as good as the first shop. Perhaps we just didn't pick the right pieces.</p><p></p><p>Next, after a short walk we boarded one of the electric busses for a short trip across town and to our last stop. As we were told prior, this would be a surprise. A surprise it was. This chocolate shop was founded by partners, one and artist and the other a psychiatrist. What a combination to be chocolatiers. Here we were treated to chipped pieces of their goodies contained in what seemed like one hundred or more little wooden boxes lined with paper. My favorite was lemon with cracked black pepper, hers, tangerine. They were so good that we each bought a bar (tablet). At one point the clerk asked if I liked whiskey, he even had a type that went well with straight shot... as it turned out it was 100% cocoa and, yes, it would go well with a shot though it was quite bitter, it was still very good. This completed our tour but Jennifer led us to the city's museum, again, no admission charge. And advised it was worth the visit. We did visit and it was great.</p><p></p><p>We ended the day with a leisurely shoreline walk back to our ship.</p><p></p><p>Tomorrow, the end of this trip in Auckland.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="traveler, post: 260206, member: 1954"] [B]Re: Around the world with Traveller[/B] Wellington, what a beautiful little town, at least by US standards. This is the capitol of New Zealand and one of its larger cities but walking in the downtown area, though there are tall buildings, a small town feel is definitely there. Perhaps that was because our guide, Jennifer, who we employed for a "chocolate tour" of the city seemed to know every second person we passed. We met Jennifer at the railroad station which was about a half mile walk from the ship. We arrived a bit before the agreed on time and took a look inside the station. It looked somewhat like Penn Station in NYC though much smaller and at no time could we spot more that a half dozen people in there. There is actually a grocery store and a wine shop in the station. By the way, if you've been in Penn Station in NYC at 4:00 AM you would see more people at one look! As we sat outside, I said to my wife that the approaching woman surely must be our guide. She had a cheerful look and a walk that gave her away. What a great guide. There was a limit of six people on any one tour and as it turned out, we were the only participants. This was to be a walking and public transportation tour and on the short walk to the city we passed the "Beehive" an interesting government building. We arrived in a shopping area and entered a small mall. There we were shown some of the shops, ending at a chocolate shop. The showcases had literally hundreds of different chocolates. The pleasant clerk described the differences in types of confections and we were to pick two each. My wife and I shared the four to find what we liked best. The dark chocolate covered currents were by far our (her) best pick. So good that after we left, I decided to walk back and buy four more pieces for later consumption. Only four, you might wonder? These were reasonably good size treats and at $2.50 NZ each I thought four was plenty. Our next stop was the cable car that takes one up a steep hill to a wonderful botanical garden and the Cable Car Museum. The museum is free and shows the original construction, near the turn of the twentieth century, through photos. The museum also has the original car restored along with another car that was retired in the 1970's. There was an earthquake here in the early 20th century, before this cable car was built and their is a plaque denoting the original shore line just below this sign. During the earthquake the ground was raised about six to eight feet (if I remember correctly) putting this area firmly on solid? ground. This is now about a half mile from the present shore line. We proceeded back down to the city and after a short walk arrived at an old bank building which was turned into an upscale shopping mall. There we were treated to a great cup of coffee and a break for a few minutes. Then we went to the basement where another chocolate shop was waiting. Again we were introduced to many different chocolates and each had two more. Great, but not as good as the first shop. Perhaps we just didn't pick the right pieces. Next, after a short walk we boarded one of the electric busses for a short trip across town and to our last stop. As we were told prior, this would be a surprise. A surprise it was. This chocolate shop was founded by partners, one and artist and the other a psychiatrist. What a combination to be chocolatiers. Here we were treated to chipped pieces of their goodies contained in what seemed like one hundred or more little wooden boxes lined with paper. My favorite was lemon with cracked black pepper, hers, tangerine. They were so good that we each bought a bar (tablet). At one point the clerk asked if I liked whiskey, he even had a type that went well with straight shot... as it turned out it was 100% cocoa and, yes, it would go well with a shot though it was quite bitter, it was still very good. This completed our tour but Jennifer led us to the city's museum, again, no admission charge. And advised it was worth the visit. We did visit and it was great. We ended the day with a leisurely shoreline walk back to our ship. Tomorrow, the end of this trip in Auckland. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe UPS Forum
Life After Brown
Around the world with Traveler
Top