Sky City and St. Patrick's Square

Sky City Tower and Hotel Casino

Sunday morning at the city can be full of surprises. We headed to McDonald's for breakfast where I sampled Auckland's version of sausage muffin with egg. The sausage tastes and looks like real food! Meaty and all compared to those that I buy in Manila which obviously was just processed food. It was enough to keep me full at least for the next two hours. Myn and I walked around a bit since it was still early and there's not much to do in the apartment. The mall opens at 10am and the mass in the nearby church won't start until 11am. Oh, what to do?

Our random walks led us to Sky City. I've seen it, i've passed by it several times and has even waited for my bus outside that building but i've never really been inside it. So that's what we did. We went inside, checked out their souvenir shop, the cafes, the casino, their tourist offerings. Buffet lunch is at the restaurant near the top of the tower. The illustration shows how high up you are like when you're at the view deck or at the revolving restaurant. It don't think it's a toddler-friendly place. It reminded me more of the hotel-casinos in Macau.

St. Patrick Cathedral

A few paces from Sky City is Queen's street. I think I was trying to recall where I saw that gothic style church then Starbucks popped out. We came in, had some drinks and cake. Mynn loved their cinnamon. I enjoyed the banana walnut, tastes like home. Finally Anne called. She's up and we're to meet her at the church.

This Sunday's celebration was again something that I actually enjoyed. They have a really good cantour (a man dressed in a red robe with an angelic voice like those from Broadway). The priest, Msgr. David Tonks was like a character lifted off from those bedtime stories. He sounds like a storyteller, really nice and warm. There's a portion in the mass, just before the homily when the priest called all the children. These children were gathered into two groups, aged 7 and up, and those who are 6 or younger. They're herded to two separate doors for a cathecism class I suppose. When they came back, the bigger kids were mostly carrying a piece of paper with some art work on it. Hmm, that really made me very curious as to how they manage these kids. And there's this man who greeted us by the door, handing out flyers (songs and the newsletter) and arranging people as to how we are to occupy the seats. He makes people feel welcome upon stepping in the church. St. Patrick's Cathedral by the way has only been reopened about 5 years ago if I remember correctly. I hope it doesn't turn into one of those event places so it remains sacred.