My First Kiwi

The weather hasn't been so nice today. It is very overcast and it was drizzling earlier on - like an Irish summer really! The Monster and I rose at about 8am. We took our time getting ready and did our brain training to get us in order for the day. We eat breakfast in the hotel. The Monster had some delicious toast while I helped myself to smoothies. We set off to find a Catholic Church for Mass tomorrow after brekkie. The woman at the hotel reception told us there was one on Manchester street. After walking for a long while, we find no sign of the church. We stopped and asked this middle aged man and young woman. they hadn't a clue, but offered to look up the phone book for us. That didn't tell us anything unfortunately, but they recognised our accents and we chatted for a while about Ireland and thanked them for their help. We were walking back to the hotel, bemoaning the useless directions of the hotel receptionist, when a car drove up honking behind us and the next thing the young woman we had been talking to earlier came running up. they had driven past the church and came back to tell us! I was bowled over by their kindness. They offered to drive us to the church. They were so friendly, we thanked them profusely. After visiting the church we walked back into town. A man at the sony centre (called sony style here - beautiful shop) recommended a restaurant called Coyote for lunch, so we went there. They had heaters and an awning so we sat out side. Our waitress was a lovely Cork girl, who was very friendly and chatty. The Monster thought we could have been sitting on the canal in Dublin - we were over looking the Avon river, and the weather was certainly like a summer day in the home country! We also spotted out first Irish pub today - called the Bog! delightful. After lunch we popped into the aquarium and kiwi house in Cathedral square. they had a lovely selection of native fish, although the poor things looked very squeezed in. I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the tuatara - a reptile with 3 eyes - but they were sleeping. We got to see the Kiwi's though. they had a pair of females. they are nocturnal so the enclosure was very dark and they are very shy. They are really awesome though, very strange looking, but beautiful. They first time we went in they were hiding in a corner, but we went in again a while later and they were stalking around in the shadows.