Wellington: coolest little capital in the world

Hello from lovely Wellington!  Wellington has been described as the "San Francisco of New Zealand" thanks to its hills, colorful houses, coffee shop variety, harbor/bay, and friendly people.  This city definitely has more charm and personality than Auckland, though I'm sure part of that has to do with the fact that we're here on a weekend rather than a work day.  Lots of people bustling about, on Cuba Street (a pedestrian street with shops, restaurants, etc), the waterfront area, at the museum, etc.

Alida showed us around town yesterday, negating our need for a map or making any decisions about what to do. Fabulous!  Had a delicious brunch, where Alida explained to us the different coffee choices here ('flat white' is the most popular option - similar to a latte but less milk and less foam).  Brunch was followed by a visit to Te Papa.  This museum is known as the crown jewel of New Zealand museums, full of artifacts, exhibits and stories of the founding, culture, and geology/biology of the country.  Fascinating stuff.  We also learned that apparently the Field Museum in Chicago has the best and largest surviving Maori meeting house that predates European explorers arriving here.  Guess I need to make a visit to the Field Museum when I get home, as the meeting house on display at Te Papa was gorgeous.

After some Kiwi culture, we meandered along the waterfront for some beautiful views of Wellington from across the harbor, and then we started hiking up - and up - and up - to the top of Mt. Victoria, where we were rewarded with 360 degree views of the city, harbors, hills, etc.  Others took a bus or drove up to the top, but we earned the views with the hike.

Ended our excellent day in Wellington with dinner at the Tasting Room where Alida scored us some amazing deals and some amazing food.  Wonderful Welly indeed.

(Wellington's nickname is apparently Windy Welly, but we lucked out with a sunny, windless day; hopefully we can keep avoiding the winds here, as they're supposed to be pretty wicked - worse than Chicago's Windy City winds)