What I discovered was a very pleasant, very busy city of about 400,000 people. You can tell early on that this is a capital city: Just as there are in Washington, Madrid and London there were a lot of well-dressed men and women carrying briefcases walking briskly from one office to another with that look of grim determination that bureaucrats everywhere seem to adopt. There were also, however, a lot of people who seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the weather. People carried on shopping, chatting, having lunch and going about their day as if the rain wasn't really falling fast and furious. I honestly got the sense that people who live in Wellington know they've made their home in a special place, are glad of that fact and just accept the rainy days as part payment for their good fortune.
I also discovered that Wellington has a lot of bookstores - something I'm very thankful for - and despite the presence of Burger Kings, Subways and the ever-present Golden Arches it's not what I'd call over-Americanized. It also has a very cool railway station, which comes complete with a "Platform 9-3/4" for those Harry Potter fans out there. This is a city that has grown tall because of the terrain so you're reminded of New York in some parts of town and there's a temptation to do the touristy thing and gawk... I'm a tourist so I did. It's also a very friendly place... people went out of their way to explain to me - patiently and with a smile - how to get from Point A to Point B and in one case even offered to walk me to my destination. (I declined the invitation because I didn't want to make the poor guy late for wherever he was going before I asked him for directions.)
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| Tall buildings that absolutely cannot be leapt in a single bound... |
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| You thought I was kidding about the Harry Potter reference... |
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