Wild Goat

The following morning, we scouted out a small stone church that overlooked the lake. It is quite a famous church, and I can see two reasons why: (1) the nice architecture; (2) the view out of the window. Afterward we jetted off to Christchurch. Once we got onto Route 1 and into the Canterbury plains though, the scenery became very unattractive (i.e. unorganized civilization). The farms along the road had large hedges separating various sections. The hedges were trimmed to look very boxy and unnatural. Truck traffic. Traffic lights. Poorly conceived businesses and business locations. Not a fan. In Christchurch we checked into our hotel around 1:30. The staff of our hotel checked us into a room that the maids were still cleaning. So we left our baggage in the car and headed out for some lunch and sightseeing around the city. We found “the strip”, a nice section along the river that has restaurants with outdoor seating. We went to the Tap Room for lunch, where I tried wild goat and kangaroo meat. They served it raw but with a sizzling hot stone to cook the meat on myself. The kangaroo was lean and a little gamey. The goat was reasonably tender and quite tasty. Afterward, we continued our walk around town, passing under the archway on the bridge of remembrance (for war heroes) to the Botanical Gardens, which were quite extensive with beautiful arboretums interspersed between well-manicured tree and flower displays. Back at the central plaza, where the trolleys are stationed, we debated a ride around town. But we had already seen nearly everything on the trolley tour, so Ingrid got a frozen yogurt (vanilla mixed with raspberries in a neat machine that does single servings). Had muscles again for dinner, as an entrée. They were spectacular! When we got back to our hotel and opened up the door to our room, there were all sorts of unpacked bags in our room (as if someone else was staying there). A quick trip to the check-in desk confirmed that the lady who checked us in gave us a key to the wrong room. That night we finished our bottle of sauvignon blanc with some delicious chocolate.