October 31, 2006
~ natural beauty and a bat colony ~
On Wednesday October 15th, Day Four of the trip to Austin, Josh and I ventured downtown for coffee at an establishment called Little City. It was a mediocre experience. My coffee was hardly worth drinking for lack of flavor and I was horrified at the styrofoam cup in which it came. Additionally, I've lost patience with establishments where I spend my hard earned money who make it ridiculously difficult for me to properly go to the restroom. Little City coffee, thumbs down.
Our plan for the day was to go to the Botanical Gardens, but we became a tad sidetracked (cough, cough) in finding some public restrooms in the Zilker wildernessy area. We located one at the Zilker Nature Center where we had some nature learning experiences, saw some animals in cages, and did a bit of hiking. On one of the signs, it read that all of the animals that they had captive were ones that they found injured in the wild that would have died otherwise. So they had eagles with arthritis and stunted wings, blind owls, and I felt particularly sorry for all of them. But whatever, it was a beautiful day. After some time, we went down Robert E. Lee road for some lunch, and had some Mexican food at Baby Acapulco's. It was pretty good, overly cheesy and fatty, but tastey. Afterwards, we hopped onto our bicycles and transported our persons to the Botanical Gardens. Which were stunning. I am always a big fan of spending time in botanical gardens. You know, the pretty flowers and shit. The first bit that we spent time in was the Japanese Gardens which were, uh, very japaneesey. The Gardens are bordered on one side by a highway, and that is the side of the Japanese Gardens which use a bamboo forest as a buffer. At some point, we climbed on some of the rocks and we were able to look out and see over the bamboo, downtown Austin. And it was neat, being in this huge sanctuary buffered by folliage. This part of the gardens also had pools filled with koi. It was a very relaxing place to be. And you know, part of going on vacation is the relaxation bit and taking time to smell the roses. And in between the Japanese Gardens and the rest of the Botanical Gardens was the Rose Gardens. Beyond those were a series of other gardens, including a primitive plant garden and a butterfly garden. It was very nice.
After we had our fill of nature's beauty, we ventured over to the Daily Juice for another refreshing beverage. I had another blueberry lemonade and Josh ordered the most expensive smoothie on the menu, a Subliminator. Then we toodled over to South Congress for some shopping in the hipster clothing, vintage, and antique shops. We broke this up with another coffee experience at an obscure place called Bouldin Creek cafe, which is highly recommended for its unusualnitudiness. After further South Congress exploration, we rode our bikes down to the Congress Avenue bridge where we sat on the grassy knoll with other tourists to watch the bats fly out from under at dusk. For whatever reason, there are an ass-load of bats living under the bridge, and it's been named the World's Largest Urban Bat Colony. And every night at dusk, they all fly out from under the bridge to go about their nightly living. As we arrived on the knoll about half an hour before dusk, we waiting for about that long. When it started to get dark and the clouds were rolling in, we could see the odd bat here and there flying underneath the bridge. After a while, one or two bats would fly out from under the bridge, mounting our suspense. Josh ran down to the river to get a better look, while I remained on the knoll out of comfort and a desire to watch the bikes. At some point, when it was too dark to take any photos, pretty much all at once, the bats came out. They formed this great big line, twenty abreast, and came pouring out from underneath the bridge. It truly was not the most spectacular sight (actually, it was a bit anticlimactic), but I was impressed with the sheer quantity of bats. Yes, it's a big bridge, but as I determined, each bat must take up a specific amount of space and it did not seem possible to me for that many bats to fit on the underside of the bridge. And they just kept coming, more and more bats. It was crazy.
Eventually, when the bats were still emerging, Josh and I decided to put the rubber to the peddle and get back to the hotel. For that evening, we had had every intention of going out and having a nightlife experience, but a thunderstorm rolled in, followed by some flash flooding. And we cuddled up with some cereal for dinner and crime shows for entertainment.
October 30, 2006
~ Laguna Gloria and Crime TV ~
Day Three, Tuesday October 14th, in Austin was memorable and stunning, very photo worthy. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Josh and I rode bikes to the Spider House for a second wonderful morning coffee experience. The day was hot, at about 90 degrees with a decent amount of humidity. After coffee, we cycled out to a place called Laguna Gloria, which is some affluent and impressive estate along the river that was donated to the Austin Museum of Modern Art and now serves as an extension to the art museum. The ride there was not for the faint of heart. I was able to understand exactly what the people in that area of the world mean by the term "hill country". By the time that we arrived at Laguna Gloria, we were dripping with sweat. My impression of the place was that while it was totally beautiful and a lovely place to spend the afternoon, it was a little overly glorified. My favorite part of the home was this empty room in which there was no display, the lights were turned off and the blue tile on the floor was broken in several places, and I sat down feeling in love with the incredible view through the windows. Josh and I also explored the gardens along the river. Beautiful. The area seemed very much like the "deep south" in my romantic sense. By the time that we left, we were about to collapse from low blood sugar. It took us some time to get back to a part of town with places to eat. We went to this establishment called the Kinney Street Cafe (I think) and I was very satisfied with my meal. Then we continued to wander around the area and stopped in another coffee shop for a sit down. I fell asleep and drooled on the pleather couch.. I felt exhausted from all of the cycling and wandering, as well as feeling overly stimulated with being in a new place. That evening, we made a dinner from some leftovers that we had collected from our restaurant meals, as well as cookies and beer from the neighborly convenience store, and relaxed in the hotel room watching crime shows. It was fabulous! Incidentally, part of the awesome thing about not owning a television is that it always seems like this new, almost "cultural" experience when I get to watch some tv. So it truly felt like a quality way to spend part of my vacation, snuggling up watching some crime shows.
October 26, 2006
~ from the wearing of middle aged shorts to a romantic dinner and jazz ~
Our second day in Austin, Monday, began early. Josh and I set out with the specific purpose of finding some bikes to rent to use as transportation for the duration of our vacation. The day before we left on vacation, I gave Josh a list of things that he was to pack for himself. And among the items on the list was his bicycle helmet. Thus on Monday, we decided to walk to an area of town that had some recommended bike shops and during our walk to that area we stopped by the Texas Capitol building and made light of a serious establishment.
Austin has some free buses, called the Dillo (short for armadillo), and we had decided to catch one to take us nearer to our destination. It was raining and we waited in the rain for possibly twenty minutes. The bus dropped us off on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, right at the corner of the bike shop. Inside the bike shop, we found an amiable chap who was willing to give us a good deal on renting some bikes for the entire week. We left to get some coffee while he repaired a tire on one of the bikes. Our walk to get some coffee was not as expected. We walked for a much longer distance than I had been prepared and then the coffee shop that we were aiming for was no longer in existence. Luckily, Josh asked a worker in a nifty shop where would be a good place for us to go, and she directed us a few blocks away to the Spider House. This proved to be the best place that we found in Austin for a hangout and coffee. It was fantastic. The coffee was unusually delicious and their food items, while a tad overpriced, were wonderful. This establishment was of such quality, that we returned three times. We sat on their outside patio for over an hour, with coffee and sandwiches (as by this time, it was nearing noonish). Josh and I normally have our Saturdays to spend together, and we always begin these Saturdays at a coffee shop doing our individual coffee shop activities. What was most fantastic about our vacation was that we had an entire week to have our morning coffee experiences. I found it especially satisfying due to the sheer quantity of knitting that I was able to accomplish. The day before we left, I procured all of the materials necessary for a new and exciting project: a felted messenger bag for my laptop. I'm roughly basing the look of the bag on a fair isle pattern in the current issue of Vogue Knitting. You can see the early stages of this knitting project to the left, as knitting from the patio at Spider House.
After we were fully satisfied from our coffee experience, we returned to the bike shop (Austin Bikes, by the way) and rented our trusty peddle-mobiles. We then utilized our newly acquired transportation to explore the area around the University of Texas. This is where we discovered some species of turtle and enjoyed some fountains. At some point, we returned to the hotel to change clothing, as it was becoming quite humid, and I adorned the lower half of my person in Josh's swimming trunks (since I had neglected to bring any shorts for myself and jeans were too unbearable to wear in the humidity - also, the temperature was nearing the 90's). Josh's swimming trunks, incidentally, did not flatter my figure. They were much too large and baggy and the Hawaiian flower motif was not quite my style. They did not, however, have a chance of falling down because the netting that holds his junk wound snugly around my thighs. I was much more comfortable in the humidity, regardless of my appearance.
Austin is a hilly city, as evidenced in this photo. I was glad that we opted to rent the slightly more expensive bicycles that had gears, as we toured a good portion of the city on our bicycles and this would not have been possible (for me, at least) on a single speed. Monday afternoon, we spent riding down the greenbelt along the Colorado River and it was beautiful. We became all hot and sweaty, but had a lot of fun. The area around the river is especially lush, swampy at times. There are a series of pedestrian-only bridges that we crossed and stopped to stare into the water. I was struck by the amount of seaweed in the river, loads. And the density of the trees made me feel as though I was in the wilderness and not in the middle of a reasonably large city.
Some time at about the middle of the afternoon, we fell pray to a low blood sugar attack. We had neglected to bring along with us some water and all of the bicycling in the heat provided that it was time for us to hydrate and calorify (which means, to intake calories). As we exited the greenbelt area, we found ourselves riding along Robert E. Lee Blvd. It was evident that this was a more cyclist-friendly area of town. There were several bike shops in the area, good bike paths, and (as we were to discover) establishments that gave discounts to peddlers. So we rode and rode down the road. We stopped at a place called the Daily Juice, a small place along the road specializing in tasty beverages with fruit and vegetables. Josh was the first to notice the brightly colored sign out front that indicated there was a 15% discounts to cyclists, which I found delightful. I ordered a "blueberry lemonade" and Josh had some sort of exciting smoothie with peanut butter and fruit. We then sat outside under the shade and consumed our exciting, calorie packed, drinks. While we were there, I should note, Josh had the opportunity to participate in an anti-George Bush conversation, further proof that even in the heart of Texas, Austin is cool.
After we left the Daily Juice, we headed up South Lamar Street where Josh located a bicycle shop that he felt was one of the best he's ever seen. Something about being the girlfriend of an avid cyclist, I shall have you know, is that you can expect to spend a lot of time in bike shops. Upon entering the shop, Josh proceeded to introduce himself to some of the shop employees and embarked upon a huge conversation about all things cycling. psst...don't tell Josh this, but while I absolutely love bicycling, sometimes (just sometimes) I get a little bored in the bike shops. So I had thoroughly entertained myself in the shop by looking at every single dingle wingle item they had for purchase. Some items I even examined twice or thrice! I also went to the bathroom and examined all of the posters of cyclists on the wall. It was about the time when I was comparing and contrasting the prices and features of handlebar accessories when Josh wanted to borrow my camera so that he could take some photos of the bike shop. At that point I just sat down and waited patiently, because there is no rushing a man who is passionate, I have found.
From there we continued to ride down some street and I decided that it was imperative that I purchase a pair of women's shorts. The total ridiculousness of wearing Josh's oversized swimming trunks was getting me down - - I was feeling embarrassed and full of shame while I was in the bike shop, wearing those trunks. In that vein, we located an establishment called Department Store, which was as generic as generic could be, and I purchased for $4.70 a pair of shorts, obviously intended for a woman in a different age group than myself, on the clearance rack. I changed into them in the store, and while I was not exactly sexy in these shorts (especially considering how sweaty I had become), I felt like a beautiful goddess compared to how I had felt in the men's swimming trunks. From there, we rode bikes all around the neighborhoods, up and down hills, having fun and seeing some awesome residential areas. As it was approaching darkness, we rushed to the hotel for some much needed showering and beautifying.
After an exciting, tiring, sweaty, and unattractive day, Josh and I then proceeded to have a romantic evening. The temperature had cooled down significantly and the humidity was barely noticeable. We walked downtown in search of a specific sushi restaurant, Kyoto, which we found at a corner of Congress Avenue. Kyoto was a dimly lit tasteful sushi place where Josh and I were some of the only customers, making it relaxing and romantic. We shared some age tofu, as well as a Longhorn roll, a Godzilla roll, and a Rainbow roll. They were all fabulous and so satisfying. Afterwards, we walked downstairs to a place called the Elephant Room, which is a jazz bar. There, we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and some good jazz.
October 23, 2006
~ The Live Music Cycling Liberal Mecca Capital of the World ~
Clearly, my boyfriend of twenty-one months does not know me at all. As we were walking through the airport to our gate, he said to me, "My best guess was Miami." On Sunday, October 25th at around 6 o'clock in the morning, Josh and I began our journey to Austin Texas. Prior to this, he was not privy to the knowledge of where he would be vacationing. For months, I have had the agonizing responsibility of keeping it a secret. He knew that he was supposed to take the time off of work, and beyond that I endeavored to keep him in the dark. During this time, I spilled the beans to several individuals, most of whom asked me "Why Austin?" Austin is, after all, well known as the Live Music Capital of the World, the hometown of Lance Armstrong (along with being regarded as something of a cycling town), as well as a place for a couple of hott liberals to take a fall vacation to extend the summer (indeed, Josh and I have returned with fresh sun burns!). Needless to say, this is going to take some time for me to recount. The trip, incidentally, was something of a celebration...Josh's thirtyfirst birthday is nearing, we just celebrated our twentyfirst-monthiversary, and two days before we left I found out that I was accepted into my masters program. Ching, ching!
As I already indicated, we left on Sunday on an early flight. I refused to be offended by Josh's thinking that I had planned a trip to Miami (???whatever???) and we got some coffees and had a big airport experience, made bearable by the two travel guidebooks that I had provided. After we arrived in Austin, there was some difficulty in finding an affordable way to reach our hotel. I had endeavored to be ultra prepared, and had printed off the bus schedule. Except for that I printed off the wrong bus schedule. As a side note, the Austin Capital Metro website could be improved for those of us who cannot read maps and who have no sense of direction, honestly! So, after I asked multiple people at the airport on how to catch the bus to our hotel, they all told us to take a taxi for twenty dollars. And now I ask you, is there no difference to a budget traveler between a twenty dollar taxi trip and an affordable fifty cent bus ticket??? I cannot quite articulate how flabbergasted I was feeling about this. Eventually, we received some proper directions and sucessfully road the bus downtown for fifty cents. As we were rolling into downtown, I was surprised about several Austin characteristics. Unlike what I had expected for the Capital of Texas, Austin was not an arid flat desert full of macho Texans with boots and belt buckles. It was a city on numerous hills with lush landscape, streams and creeks trickling down the urban hillsides, with rockn'roll hipsters loitering around the many music venues.
The taxi dropped us off near to the Texas State Capitol building. Apparently, the largest state capitol building in the U.S., the Texas Capitol building to me, however, was just another state capitol building. The only thing I found particularly noteworthy was the extensive grounds of the capitol area. From the bus, we walked through the Capitol grounds to our hotel, an affordable Super 8 Motel on the other side of the freeway. That evening, after some rest and recuperation at the hotel, we wandered downtown along Congress Avenue to the trendy Warehouse District. We had coffee at an espresso joint called Halycon before exploring the seedy bar district along 6th Street. Upon finding an establishment with cheep beer and a cowboy /slash/ outerspace theme, we found repose with several games of table hockey...and beer.
After leaving this establishment, we walked along Red River street, home to many of the indie hipster-type music venues. Even on a Sunday night, it was hopping. At some point, we stumbled upon a little place called Stubbs, the maker of (what Josh considers to be) the best bbq sauce in the world. It is truly a sight to see the delight upon Josh's face as he proceeds to consume a meal featuring Stubbs. Twentyone months ago, I had never heard of Stubbs, yet now it is a frequent item on my shopping list. And? Austin is the hometown of Stubbs...which is not only the distributer of amazing bbq sauce, but also has a restaurant with an outdoor amphitheater which hosts incredible bands. Even though I was not at all hungry, we hurried into Stubbs and ate an entire meal. And it was delicious. Incidentally, what attracted our attention to the Stubbs establishment in the first place was the placard out front which featured the upcoming bands to play there. Bands such as Ani Difranco, Built to Spill, and the Decemberists. Before leaving, we purchased some concert tickets to the Built to Spill concert which was scheduled for the time that we would be in Ausin. Funny story, hahahaha...I'm not sure if perhaps I was more tipsy from my beers than I had realized, but at some point, I was going down the stairs to the restroom, and I tripped and fell down several steps. Downstairs, there was some fancypants dinner event with white tablecloths and nice wine, and I was splayed on the floor, having stubbed myself at Stubbs. I was so embarrassed! Everyone rushed over and asked me if I was okay, and I said I was fine and ran away. I then arrived back at our table and, with tears welling in my eyes, told Josh my horrible story. As I was doing so, I had become rather animated with my jesticulation, and I flung my head back during an exclamation, and violently banged my head on the wooden wall. Later, as we were walking back to our hotel, I tripped on the step up to our room and banged my knee. And that is Day 1 of our trip... there are six more days, so stay tuned.
October 11, 2006
~ the blues ~
For the past two weeks, I have felt very depressed. It's, you know, a lot of things. Mostly, it's the idea that I'm a massive failure. While this is neither justified nor warranted, the feeling, however, overwhelms. It has gotten to the point where random "little" things can set me off. Last week, for example, there was an article in the newspaper about a school teacher who died in an automobile accident and while I was walking around aimlessly during my lunch break I broke out in tears thinking all about what a horrible world I live in, where teachers driving to pick up ice cream for their students die in hit and "run"s after their cars blow up in flames. I was quite emotional. Yesterday, my working life started out pleasant enough, but by the end of the day I was unbearably miserable. The last two hours of work, I had fallen into this deep cavernous depression. When I was packing up my belongings to leave for the day, tears began pouring down my cheeks and I left the office without saying goodbye to anyone. All the way I walked home, I was crying uncontrollably. Once I arrived home, I occupied myself with doing some research about a top secret thing that I shall be doing in a few days (photos and stories shall abound!), and I became so enlivened and excited about my plan that I lost all thought about my supposed failures and shortcomings. Which was handy, since I am not a fan of depression.
Then I went on a big walk and imagined myself to be a rock star who was rocking all of the world. At the end of my walk, I purchased a bottle of pino griggio and went home, where I threw off my comfortable walking shoes and donned some sexy red pumps, in anticipation of my boyfriend's arrival. I then proceeded to run about my small apartment, picking up things and creating a romantic atmosphere. Right before he knocked on the door, I depressed the PLAY button on my stereo so that upon his entrance into my apartment, some nice piano music began to amplify through my speakers. We then sat and enjoyed the wine over some stimulating conversation.
In other news, the ending of my evenings recently has involved my consumption of warm milk with a hint of green spicey tea while reading a good book under some dim lighting reclining on my comfy chair. There are numerous novels that I have been trying to complete, however, the brunt of my reading has been the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which I greatly enjoy. Additionally, I have turned my bedding around so that my head is now pointing west instead of east while I sleep. You see, to the east is the alleyway. And I have placed my bed in the alcove off of my kitchen, blocking the back door, so as to make it seem as though I have a "one bedroom" apartment instead of a studio. The backdoor that leads into the alley has quite the draft. Now that the weather is cooling down, and especially now that I am just getting over the flu, I wanted my head to be away from the drafty backdoor. It feels odd, though, because now my head leads into the kitchen and I am much more aware of the kitchen sounds while I sleep. Funny how a mere five feet and four inches can make a big difference in one's sleeping experience. Indeed, I have been sleeping well and feeling well, aside from the depression (which is strangely absent today...).
October 3, 2006
~ Marriage, Mishaps, and Mindlessness in Portland ~
I took a small sweet trip to Portland over the weekend to act as a witness to the marriage of Elizabeth and Edvin. While I was involved in the logistics of how this was going to work, I wondered why it was necessary for me to fly all the terribly long distance for this activity. After all, Elizabeth could have easily found some homeless person who, for five bucks, could have been her lady of honor. ...sigh... But apparently she preferred me over a random homeless person for the honor. And I am glad that I went. Not only did I have a fabulous time, but by last Thursday (the day that I left), I was feeling in need of a vacation. Work as been kind of, you know, unpleasant. Anyhoo, the marriage was great. We all got up at the asscrack of dawn to get ready for the big day. At some point, while I was rifling around in my suitcase and feeling inadequate, I said to Elizabeth "Hey, do you mind if I wear jeans to your marriage?" We then got into the automobile, bride groom and me, and drove into the downtown area during the morning rushhour traffic. Edvin appeared to be experiencing a certain amount of anxiety about arriving on time. And Elizabeth reassured him that we had plenty of time. After we parked, we walked to the courthouse where we met Miro, the other witness, who appeared to have just dragged himself out of bed. We then stood in a really long line to go through the security checkpoint at the courthouse. Then we walked around and paid various fees and filled out forms. Finally, we were able to sit outside of the judge's chambers where I sat around taking photos and Elizabeth and Edvin reviewed their vows. After gaining admittance to the judge's chambers, I continued to take photographs while the judge lectured everyone about marriage. It was weird. He was going on and on about how much he enjoys doing marriages because it's the only time during his day that he gets to see happy people. He also described the bureaucratic ordeal that is the marriage process in detail. At some point, he made a random comment about people being worried about terrorism, and I felt totally thrown for a loop, having no idea what terrorism had to do with anything. Granted, I wasn't really listening to what he had been blabbing about, but still. Call me simple and naive, but I am not one of those persons who obsess about terrorism day in and day out. So then they got married and I did not pay one ounce of attention to the ceremony because I was too busy taking photos. Snap, snap, snap. Then everyone sat down again after the judge pronounced Elizabeth and Edvin "man and wife" and he began to explain the importance of the marriage license. Then again, he felt it was necessary to include a random comment about what if Immigration Services come after Edvin. And it all became, for me, illuminated. The judge thought it was a green card marriage, despite the fact that Edvin is an American citizen. And the comment about terrorism... reflective of Edvin's atheist/muslim background, native language and crazy weird unAmerican name??? I dunno, it seemed to me the opposite of politically correct of the judge to make these comments. But I kept that opinion to myself and continue to snap, snap, snap photographs.
After that, we then took the marriage license to the county office building dealie where they paid yet another fee to become officially married. Then we got breakfast at this fantastic restaurant. I anticipated that an enitre breakfast entree would be too much food for me, so I persuaded Miro to share an order of eggs bennie with me. This proved wise, as our respective portions were the perfect size and so amazingly delicious. At that point, Elizabeth and I decided to spend the rest of the day together. We got onto some bikes and rode over the bridge to downtown and engaged in some enjoyable shopping. At a certain establishment, I found a great pair of Citizen jeans for a ridiculously low price. Which I found quite exciting. Elizabeth and I, upon becoming hungry for lunch, rode the bicycles out to another part of the city for some sushi. While the sushi was by no means the most impressive sushi, it was very good and was served on individual plates revolving on a conveyer belt. It was an exciting experience. I began by picking up a plate worth $1.50 and ate some amazing tuna sushi with spicy sauce. Then I picked up a plate for $2 with another kind of sushi. I had four plates in total and spent a mere $6. Whoever came up with the idea of conveyer belt sushi is a genius. Elizabeth and I then proceeded to ride bikes to her home, and I had a blast. We stopped by a yarn store with attached coffee shop and spent quite a while knitting. Yet again, another example of pure genius: a coffee shop attached to a yarn store. I experienced something akin to being in heaven.
Later that evening, there was something of an ordeal to gather everyone up for dinner. I attempted to play as little part in the organizing process as I could. Sheesh, trying to navigate around everyone's schedules and getting them to sit down for dinner together! Anyhoo, after much of the craziness had happened, Elizabeth and I picked up Lorry and then went to one Mississippi Pizza establishment, where we met Edvin and Miro, and Miro's brother and sister-in-law for dinner. I drank several glasses of wine and ate several slices of pizza. It was fun. At some point, as I was yawning over my senior citizen bedtime, Lorry and I became aware that everyone else intended to stay out much later than we wanted. Thus, we said our goodbyes and went to locate a bus to take us home. It was funny, hahahaha, I was loopy from the wine and had no sense of where I was, and Lorry also did not seem to know where to catch the bus. So we walked around a lot. Eventually, we loaded onto the bus and I experienced a delirious public transportation thing.
On Saturday, I got up early and wandered several blocks and blocks away for a coffee and food item. And I knitted a lot. At some point, a guy sat at the table nearest to mine (which was still two feet or so away from me) and proceeded to make an elaborate gem stone display on the table. He had a crap load of gem stones which he meticulously arranged and he also propped up a couple of books on gem stones. Once he got this to his satisfaction, he sat back and appeared to be waiting around for people to ask him questions about gem stones. I found it odd and he seemed, to me, off somehow. Then I did some shopping in that part of the city, locating some amazing shoes, and then met up with Elizabeth and Edvin for lunch. That afternoon, Elizabeth and I went on a long hike in Washington Park, which was fantastic. I felt very lucky to have experienced Portland under such good weather circumstances. We also did a bit of browsing at some shops along a hipster type street. That evening, after discussing all that we felt like doing, we decided to spend the evening making dinner at their home and watching Six Feet Under. While we were making diner, Edvin came home and surprised us with some Cherry Fudge ice cream. So it was a perfect restfull evening. The next day, we had coffee and an exciting pastry item at Grand Central Bakery before I caught my flight home. I certainly love fabulous weekend trips!
