Jet lag is my enemy....

Jet lag is my enemy.  We were wise the first day in Auckland, staying active and not going to bed until 7:30 p.m. even though we arrived at 6:30 a.m. Jim had not slept since Phoenix.  I had about 5 hours of sleep.  Now we're two days into travel and I feel like there are a million words to be written and a thousand places to go.  So here are the highlights:

Auckland is beautiful! It looks a lot like southern California--rolling hills, palm trees and the ocean close by.  Before I really got the hang of the GPS on my phone (thank you, children, for showing me how to use it!), we drove around in an area that looked a lot like many of the neighborhoods in LA...or Kansas City...or Phoenix.  Driving on the left side of the road was a challenge.  Not so much for Jim's driving skills, but for my nerves.  Stop laughing, Hailey, Chase and Kaitlyn! We found our hotel after seeing a great deal of downtown Auckland (it looks a lot like Montreal:  many nationalities represented in faces and stores).  The buildings are high rises, the roads are hilly and mixed in between are old brick buildings.  And there's water...ocean, bay, more ocean.

On the recommendation of the butler who served our tea (Yes, tea!! with little sandwhiches, cream puffs and cupcakes with lavender icing), we went for a walk to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  First we explored the little cemetery below our hotel...what a beautiful setting!

(There was a beautiful picture of the cemetary we walked through, but it disappeared...oh, well.)

We crossed over a our walk took us to the Auckland Domain-- a beautiful park with rugby fields, a duck pond, walking trails and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Jim reminded me that it was one of the places he thought he'd like to go when we were reading guide books.  He makes good choices.  The building itself was gorgeous! The view from the front was the bay, and the contents was great! The first floor was Pacific Islander Culture with a big emphasis on Maori Culture.  The second floor was natural history with dinosaurs, local flora and fauna, ocean life, penguins, and volcanoes.  By the time we finished the second floor we were running out of steam.  So without see the War History floor, we took our leave.

Back to the hotel with a stop at a coffee shop for dinner. I had mentioned to the hotel staff that we were here on our anniversary.  Waiting in our room was a plate of chocolates with "Congratulations" written in chocolate and a basket of fruit.

Monday morning found us checking out of the hotel and picking up our motor home.  The story really begins there, the adventure of driving into the north country...but that's more for next time.