Travelogues ...headin' down the highway, lookin' for adventure...
Sunday, February 27, 2000, Continued
Our hotel (Novotel) is in the heart of downtown Auckland only blocks away from the Americas Cup Village. We begin our walk towards the Village with a good solid breakfast in mind. However, Roger pulls me past a few pastry shops on the way as I begin to weaken by the sight of a beckoning chocolate cream cake.
We have the absolute best view of the sailboats as they leave the harbor and the excitement of the Kiwis is palpable. New Zealand is 3-0 with the Italians and the entire harbor is filled with cheering spectators with red socks (for good luck we later learn) and all the hoopla of a wild ride at Disneyland.
The harbor is packed with yachts and boats of all sizes and countries. As the competitors sail past the cheering crowd three to four people deep lining the docks, the ships horns bellow out varying pitches of sound until they seem to be honking in unison. The sights and sounds make my heart vibrate. Life could not be more grand!
As we strike up a conversation, she is very helpful telling us about things to see and where to eat plus learning that even though we both spoke English we needed to stop the conversation periodically to ask what in the heck each other said. For example, Roger asks how long the race course is and Leone replies that it's six leagues.. After much confusion about the exact distance of a league, we finally realize that she is saying legs-six legs back and forth. We also learn that the Brits are called POME's (Prisoners of Mother England) and the Aussies are SOS Stealers (Sons of Sheep Stealers). Though SOS may sound derogatory, we learn that the relationship between the Kiwis and Aussies while very competitive is also much like siblings at heart.
As we are finishing our breakfast and ready to leave the restaurant, Leone asks where we are staying and says she "will ring us up" for an invitation to dinner with her and her husband, Robbie. What a sweet, sweet lady.
After the excitement of the race we go back the few blocks to our hotel where upon I proceed to whine/beg for a early check-in. The bags under my eyes were approaching chin level and my chin was sagging "pert near" my chest. By 1:00 p.m. we are sacked out and don't awake until around 8:00 p.m. I argue that we stay put but Roger very wisely suggests we get up, walk around a bit and get a bite to eat. We spend an hour or so doing that and head straight back to the room for an uninterrupted nights sleep.