Macy’s in San Francisco always does this nice showcase of window holiday cheer with animated characters, little buildings, and all things Christmasy. This year however, has been such a fun thing to watch. The set is a little train, each with its own theme with miniature furniture and the works. What’s extremely fun about this is, that they have kittens in each little train car, and they’re playing around in the window looking at the people, and playing in their miniature homes. Walking past this to and from work always brings a smile to my face as I watch other lone walkers move towards the window–there’s not one who doesn’t leave with a smile on their face. That’s what I like to see during Christmas.
Author: Benjamin Trotter
The Apprentice, Kelly wins…
So, the finale of the Apprentice was on last night, and I could not believe what an event it has become. Last year, I thought it was pretty big being a 2-hour show. But, last night’s was a 3-hour show! The first hour was showing the last job, but then the rest was just drawn out for so long. I can’t believe how rude reality TV has become. Jennifer, who I thought did a great job all along, was completely battered at this finale show with people standing up for Kelly, who I didn’t think was stellar at all. The speaker that I thought was the worst, was that man that stood up and said, I just don’t like Jennifer, but then, got so tripped up, nothing else could come out, and he had to sit down. Now who looks silly? I’m so glad Jonathan actually spoke up for her, because it was getting a bit ridiculous. These shows have become not as fun, but almost plain brutal.
Artistic Photos from Sydney
Fiji and Australia Galleries are up!
Goodbye Sydney, Australia
This morning, I met up with Nick to have a last breakfast. We went to a great place for hotcakes, ricotta, and bananas. It was so good. It’ll be a good start for my long journey back to San Francisco. I know I will be back, and if everything goes as planned, it will be for a new life in Australia!
Leaving the Gold Coast
Today I headed out to Surfer’s Paradise and met up with my new friend George. We went to the beach for a while and then headed to Bond University where he’s a law student. I got to see the campus and it was really cool–really nice buildings, green, warm, and great athletic center. The water in the pool was great, so I did several laps. We then headed to the airport to meet up with Mike and head back to Sydney. All in all, the Gold Coast was a really interesting adventure!
Left-sided Driving!
This morning, Mike and I went straight to the beach for a nice swim for an hour. We then headed to several rent-a-car places to see the best deal for us to drive up the coast up to Brisbane, and to the Australia Zoo. Most of you will know about this zoo because of that crazy crocadile guy, Steve Owen. We found a place that would rent us a good deal. We ended up with a tiny Toyota Echo, manual. As soon as we got in, it is so backwards that Mike was turning on the windshield wipers to make a blinker signal, etc. It was hilarious. He got the hang of it pretty quickly, and we headed up towards Brisbane. After about 2 hours of driving we arrived at the Australia Zoo and headed in to see all the animals. What’s really cool about this zoo is that it’s primarily focused on the regional animals. We saw a crocadile show, pet and played with the Kangaroos, held Koalas, watched Wombats, listened to the prehistoric cry of an emu, ate free pop sicles ;) and watched the tasmanian devil go to sleep. It was great! We then started to head back to Brisbane for dinner. There we found a place that was having a quiz game, and we stayed for that. I had the worst pizza in my life full of lamb, beef, cheese, etc. It was like two dead carcasses on my plate–talk about meat lovers pizza! We then headed back to the car and drove back to Surfer’s Paradise to be greeted by the biggest, orangest, low-hanging moon I’ve ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, I was driving, and it was impossible to take a pic :( Tomorrow we head back for our last days in Australia..
Day in Surfer’s Paradise
Today we headed for the beach at Surfer’s Paradise. After a great sandwich I headed to get a henna tattoo around my arm. Spent all day lying on the beach and watching all the schoolies run around. It was funny to see how many of them there are. The day passed quickly and before we knew it, we were looking for places to eat.
Trip to the Gold Coast
This morning, I got up a little bit early because I didn’t calculate the time properly. So we got a head start and moseyed on to the airport. Once there, we had a snack and boarded our Qantas flight to the Gold Coast. We had a great flight with beautiful weather, and watched the amazing coast line develop right before our eyes. The higher we got, the bluer the water got. After about an hour, we arrived and found our way to Surfer’s Paradise, where, unbeknownst to us, is where the Australian Spring Break is held–so teenagers who have just graduated high school, called ‘Schoolies’ are swarming around and such. It’s quite a sight to see, and really reminded me of Florida–After wandering around for a while, we got settled and went to the beach. The world’s largest residential tower is being built–they have the first 50+ floors done, with another 30-40 to go. We went out for a nice dinner, looked at the kids, then headed to bed. I’ve started having a little bit of sinus trouble the past couple of days, so hopefully it won’t get worse.
Photography Day in Sydney ***
Today, I woke up and got my stuff together for picture day and headed out for lunch and downtown. Ended up at the rocks, went through the markets and such then headed for Circular Quay. Great views of the opera house and bridge, and the day was clear and sunny. Mike met up and we headed through the botanical gardens where we found wild cockatoos that would come right up to you (and crap on you). We fed them peanuts, had some pictures, and then headed on our way. It was getting so hot that we decided it would be fun to go to the public pool–so we got our bathing suits on and went for a snack, then to the pool. It was so nice. There were lots of people and we met some new friends. The water was so nice and refreshing, and salted! It was like swimming in the ocean.
That night we went with our new friend Greg out to China Town and had a chinese dinner. After some hilarious things at dinner, we headed for night photos. During the night photos, James, a guy we had met earlier this week came to meet up as well. We continued walking around–the night was so nice, until I finally needed to retire back to the dorm for some sleep for our trip up to the Gold Coast.