The Pods Visit Christchurch...Part One...
This entry was posted on 1/10/2007 12:09 PM and is filed under New Zealand.
When we remember Christchurch, we'll think about our connection with friends there.
Christchurch
is a town of about 350,000 people. We came here and soon
connected with our old friend from Santa Barbara, Stephanie Hersh, who
used to be Julia Child's assistant. She moved here two years ago
and loves her new life here. She had a BBQ at her house and we had the
lovely opportunity to meet many of her Kiwi friends.
We
also had a sweet reunion with Tracy and Mark, our friends from the
Milford Trek who had a brief stop here in Christchurch before going up
to the North Island. We met them at the train station with a
bottle of New Zealand champagne and celebrated their completion of the
Milford AND Routeburn Tracks.
Our
friend Geoff (pronounced Geeeeef) Bloomingdale from Santa Barbara also
arranged his 2nd New Zealand trip to be here when we were here and tag
along with us for 10 days to see what it's like to be a Pod. He
arrived in a rather unorthodox fashion, but we were able to find him
and communicate with him in his own unique language.
Christchurch
has this large magnificent cathedral in their center square named after
"you know who". It is the cornerstone of the center of
town. We enjoyed seeing the modern architecture next to the old
buildings. Here's EJ in the middle of the square...
And here it is at night, beautifully lit...
There
is also a fun tram that does a circle tour of many of the main city
attractions. You can board it from any of its stops and your pass
is good for two days.
The conductor wouldn't let Epod drive it,
but he did let her sit on his lap for a photo and get all "hot and
bothered" (his words!)
Christchurch
has a beautiful architectural building called the Art Center
(Ceeeenter). It's in an area with lots of restaurants, art
studios and live theaters and right next to the gorgeous glass
fronted building, the Art Museum.
And here's the Arts Center next door to the museum...
and from another view...
Inside the courtyard was this really cool art piece, suspended between two buildings it looked like it was floating free form above us...
If you look carefully you can see the wires that suspended it.
We just loved the architecture here. This is a part of a church window that Mindy captured for you to see.
