August 25th, 2005 – First Impressions

What happened to the 24th of August? Caught up in all of the time changes throughout our voyage we had absolutely no idea what time it was back home. We found a ride into the city for 9 dollars each on a private shuttle, which was well worth the extra dollar to arrive door to door than had we taken other available shuttle services into the Rocks. There was a bit of a fiasco getting in touch with Jeanie and Marc on the morning of our arrival, but finally we got a key and lay on the bed for a well deserved power nap. Our first impression of Jeannie’s shared accommodation was poor. The house is in a very ritzy part of town, but is old and unfortunately we got a crummy room on ground level, no view or couch for a pricy 250$/week. We were surprised that the bathrooms are essentially outside and the tiny kitchen and sitting area are meant to be shared with ~ 9 other rooms. We slept for 3 hours and then proceeded into the city for the first time. Within minutes we could tell that we’d be comfortable here. A city with everything from exquisite tastes to burger king look alikes (hungry Jacks). Surrounded by waterfront, it has tons of character with its Monorail and underground strip mall passages. Not being fully satisfied with Jeanie’s we decided to take a look elsewhere for a better rate and after hitting the Travelers Checkpoint for some job opportunities and shared accommodation listings we headed out through China town towards Darling harbor. ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ is a traveler’s lodging place and seemed more appropriate for our age group. After a long day of walking we headed back to the Rocks for a pasta dinner and were out like a light. Laure decided it would be fun to wake up in the middle of the night. We were practically out the door, when we realized that Laure had some confusion reading the clock without her eye wear and nearly tramped around outside at 3 in the morning.