We expected Christchurch to be a sleepy little town and we weren’t entirely disappointed in that regard. It’s a cross between Kingston and Stratford (Ontario), with the addition of red British phone booths. We started that morning waiting for the shuttle to town, and chatting with Gary and Andy from Regina (also from Cruise Critic). While we were wine-touring and Art Deco walking, they were zorbing and checking out cities by segway. Not that I didn’t enjoy our method of shore excursion, but I’d just like to say that those two are a couple of lucky sons a bitches (and I mean that in the nicest way).
This was another big shopping day, but at least a successful one. We picked up souvenirs for a few nieces, cousins, parents, babies yet unborn, and various attractive strangers. We’re not huge souvenir people, generally speaking, but when you’re this far from home you’ve gotta bring some crazy shit back. Christchurch has a large market square, bracketed by a Cathedral on one end, and the most fancy-ass Starbucks I’ve ever seen on the other (actually the upper portion was some government building, but I just like to pretend). A large number of venders set up shop here, and we spent time browsing around. We also got to witness some dude in a Gandalf costume climb up on a small ladder and lecture the crowd. Busker or tour guide, we never dared close enough to find out. This guy was followed by some other dude (sans ladder) ranting about damnation and hellfire. Affiliated with Gandalf? Affilated with the Church? Your guess is as good as mine because we kept our sinful selves at a safe distance.
Lunch was at The Tap Room (the name alone hinted at beer so the choice was made before we even glimpsed the menu). We ordered a tasting flight of Montieth’s, which came in a nice stack of six sampling glasses. Montieth’s isn’t bad (reference the previously posted ranking of Kiwi beers), but some of the variations were a bland or overly fruity. We also ordered a Tasting Sampler for grilling—a number of small meat and seafood portions that we cooked ourselves on a superhot grilling stone. Not a huge meal, but good, and it seems we figured out the right temperatures and cooking time for everything because it’s been a few days since and I have neither salmonella nor the clap.
This was another big shopping day, but at least a successful one. We picked up souvenirs for a few nieces, cousins, parents, babies yet unborn, and various attractive strangers. We’re not huge souvenir people, generally speaking, but when you’re this far from home you’ve gotta bring some crazy shit back. Christchurch has a large market square, bracketed by a Cathedral on one end, and the most fancy-ass Starbucks I’ve ever seen on the other (actually the upper portion was some government building, but I just like to pretend). A large number of venders set up shop here, and we spent time browsing around. We also got to witness some dude in a Gandalf costume climb up on a small ladder and lecture the crowd. Busker or tour guide, we never dared close enough to find out. This guy was followed by some other dude (sans ladder) ranting about damnation and hellfire. Affiliated with Gandalf? Affilated with the Church? Your guess is as good as mine because we kept our sinful selves at a safe distance.
Lunch was at The Tap Room (the name alone hinted at beer so the choice was made before we even glimpsed the menu). We ordered a tasting flight of Montieth’s, which came in a nice stack of six sampling glasses. Montieth’s isn’t bad (reference the previously posted ranking of Kiwi beers), but some of the variations were a bland or overly fruity. We also ordered a Tasting Sampler for grilling—a number of small meat and seafood portions that we cooked ourselves on a superhot grilling stone. Not a huge meal, but good, and it seems we figured out the right temperatures and cooking time for everything because it’s been a few days since and I have neither salmonella nor the clap.
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