Not having the luck of the Irish Weekend

What a week which led into a rainy but much needed weekend. JC was extra busy this week with special lectures from, Ron Holland, who is the famous NZ boat designer. Since it is the Auckland Arts Festival I had purchased tickets to a Colombian circus show for Thursday night! JC wasn't able to make it due to a night presentation from Ron. Instead of going by myself I rang Bryan (NZ Dad) to see if he would like to come! So Bryan and I went and loved every minute of the show. I recently went to Las Vegas to see a Circus de Solei Show and this show was BETTER. The young group is from the roughest neighborhoods of Cali, Colombia. With the help from a circus organization, the actors were able to go through a 4 year circus training to help better their lives. The story told through their circus art is their lives growing up in the streets. The acts are "raw" circus de solie but very talented with much more heart into each piece. The entire performance was in Spanish which helped me to remember my Spanish once again. After the show, Bryan and I met JC for a coffee to brag about the performance JC missed. When we were leaving the festival there was a sign saying that students received discounts to shows. Since JC really missed out and wanted to go we went on Friday night! I didn't mind seeing the show a second time and really noticed a lot more! We weren't able to sit together but JC really enjoyed the show and was happy to see it! After the show we went down to our FAVORITE restaurant, Mexico, for a few gourmet tacos and my all time favorite, Sauvignon Blanc Sangria. YUMMY! This restaurant is addicting! Back tracking to Friday afternoon... JC's graduate class was invite by Ron Holland to tour 2 of his sailboat yachts that are docked in the Viaduct Wharf. I was also lucky to be invited to go along to see these yachts up close and personable. Words can't describe the luxury level of these yachts. To put in some words... the boats are around 60 million USD and are 120 ft. plus in length. The first "sailboat" was called Ethereal which is owned by an American internet genius. This boat is only 4 years old and has amazing state of the art technology due to the owner's profession. We were able to tour the cabins but couldn't take photos of the inside space. There are 10 full time crew on boat at all times! We were greeted by the "hospitality" staff worker who took us through the boat showing us the music room, huge TV room, office, kitchen, laundry room, crew housing, and guest accommodations! I believe we all are still in a state of shock to see something of this level. The average cost to keep this boat operating per year is 5 million USD. Unbelievable! The owners are very into protecting the environment and have many different techniques to show their "green" side for the planet. Next, we toured a 20 year old boat called, Thalia which is currently owned by a Russian. This boat in our opinions was much more classic design and feel. The captain took us around but we didn't get to go inside the boat due to maintenance. They run an 8 person crew. We noticed that each boat had all crew members busy busy busy maintaining the boat! It is a full time job and as my Dad likes to say about boats, "cash flow" or throwing money into the water! Thalia was a great boat and the captain was super nice. He said JC and Icould come get the hands on working experience! We might take him up on the offer and try to "hitch sailboat" to Costa Rica when they pass through. Each boat stays busy with sailing around the world. Some with just the crew which is in route to picking up the owners and weeks with owners and guests. 

Overall, this was a once in a lifetime experience that was mind blowing! Saturday was a day for JC to do his homework while I stayed busy exercising and such... JC met me for live music in the park! The music was a great young group who sang jazz and blues. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the music but the weather was looking as if it was going to rain. JC and I left back to the room to change and go to Silo Park for the arts festival white night party. When we were ready to go... the rain was coming down so we decided to call it a night and hang out in the room. Sunday we woke up to heavier windy rains! Since it was St. Patrick's Day there was a parade near our house. JC and I kept going back and forth about going or not going. We ended up not going and I went to the gym. Well.. once I was at the gym the rain had stopped! Guess we learned our lesson about near counting on the weather in a city which is known for having ALL four seasons in one DAY! JC and I put on our head to toe rain gear and headed down to the wharf to check out the Patty's Day festivities. There were Irish Pubs with lots of people,beer, and more beer. Each pub was charging a $10 cover so we decided to go have fish in chips at a tiki car on the wharf. We had planned to go to the Polynesian Festival which was inside a conference center on Sunday... but I had looked at the webpage in the week and thought it was through Sunday. "thought" being the key word... it ended on Saturday. We were bummed to not have been able to go! In other words, our weekend was all about a hit or miss!

                                                                                            


















                                 









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