Shopping Day

Well, we're sitting here in Union Square again, but this time we're tasting the offerings of the (insanely-popular-due-to-location) cafe called Il Caffe - Emporio Rulli at Union Square. It would probably be really good if Belinda or I drank coffee, but Belinda is hacking away slowly at an Apple Strudel and a Mango Green Tea.

We spent the morning shopping, but despite the insane amount of choice here, we didn't really find a lot that jumped out at us. Sure, there are all the big brands here - but I no longer crave after Armani and the like, and everything else (i.e. in our price bracket) is available in Auckland for pretty much the same price.

(blendy) I got to visit shoe heaven! Lots of stores with floors and floors of cool shoes...but with so much choice and most of them being completely impractical, I only ended up getting 2 pairs. I also bought a few clothin items - lucky the long maternity - style tops are still in fshion here so I wont look odd.

I was encouraged to visit the Apple Store by John Ballinger in Akl, and it was fairly cool. A few floors large, with lots of tourists and students making full use of the free internet, plus live seminars and an "Apple Genius" counter for FAQs. Of course, rows and rows of ipod accesories too - but for some reason I still feel like a scrooge and don't want to shell out US$30 for an armband so I can run with my ipod shuffle.

I did however crave after staring at the Nike Free billboards all day long, and bought a pair. They're really comfy, so I HAD to buy them!

Belinda decided to buy some clothes but is also finding it hard to splurge. We've made a good effort though, and she's come away with some new clothes and shoes.

Oh, and Megan really wanted us to visit the Sanrio store for her - a store full of all things Hello Kitty... and not much else. I felt a bit odd taking a photo of the store.

(blendy) the food here is completely wrong. There are no actual ingredients in anythng - when you read the labels its all just chemicals and modified things that might once have been food. Even fresher things like butter and cheese are wrong - they are white to start with! The butter for my toast this morning came on a piece of card and you just scrape this thin white stuff off onto your toast. They are not even sealed - just a whole basket of these bits of butter on cards with a piece of wax paper covering just the top surface. yuk. We had white mozerella on some pizza yesterday - americans have no idea about pizza either. They come with sauce and one topping, and cheese is a topping. We found a place offering vegetable pizza, and it was ok. At least we found a cool place yesterday that was a big fruit stall and I spent US$17 on cherries and GIANT peaches, nectarines and strawberries. Couldn't believe how big they were! Yum!!

So we dread every meal we have to eat.....but last night we found the YUMMIEST sushi place. They make fresh sushi of all interesting kinds and then they put a couple of bits of each small plate and float them around the bar in these cute little wooden boats. You just take the bits you want, and then they count up the plates at the end. It was definitely the BEST sushi ever.....

After deciding we were immune to the weak US sun, we ended up getting quite sunburnt and we look stupid - especially because the wind is cold so we were wearing long pants and hoodys yesterday - so my hands, face and chest are red! DUMB!

Tomorrow we make our way to San Jose for the ebay conference.