A Queen-Pawn Opening in Christchurch...

Christchurch, New Zealand

May 23, 2007
S 43°31.827
E 172°37.268

Like typical tourists, we walked through the botanical garden, jumped on and off of the trolley and took a ride up to the Christchurch Gondola. Today was our first day to really explore Christchurch and see what it had to offer. As we strolled through Cathedral Square this morning we saw a couple of guys playing chess on a giant chess board. Marc slowed down and grabbed a seat on the bleachers overlooking the board and sent me off to get some coffee while he watched the game with the other chess geeks.

Cathedral Square, in the middle of the city center, is set up with food booths, an information center, a few homeless, street performers and a giant chess set. The chess board is at least 12’x12’, with pawns that are knee high and kings up to your waist. There was a crowd standing around the board this morning, including a few of the street performers on a break.

Christchurch is the first town we’ve noticed a few homeless people and even a few crazies (aren’t we all a little crazy?). The homeless pretty much keep to themselves, hanging out in the main square during the day and then seemingly disappearing at night—definitely different than San Francisco where you have no problem finding an unfortunate soul day or night. With that being said, the city is immaculate and pristine like every other town and village we’ve visited in New Zealand.

When I was finally able to pull Marc away from the chess games, we jumped on the trolley car for a tour of the city. The trolley, or tram, similar to San Francisco’s MUNI street car (F-line), circled the perimeter of the city center and allowed us to see a good portion of the city’s highlights.

Since the trolleys run at exactly eight minute intervals (very unlike MUNI), passengers can easily jump off and on to see the sights. We jumped off at the second stop and made our way through the art museum and gallery. From there we wandered into the botanical gardens where the autumn colors were still lingering; though many of the leaves were now covering the ground and were being gathered-up by one of the park’s many employees.

After we circled the city center we jumped on a local bus (running right on time) and made our way to the outskirts of the city for a ride on the gondola. The views from the gondola in Christchurch weren’t nearly as impressive as in Queenstown—it didn’t even have a luge at the top of the mountain. We suspect the views are more spectacular in spring when the surrounding hills are bright green, not a dull brown like they are during this time of year.

When we got back to the square we stopped by the chess board again. The sun was beginning to set, but there was still time for another game and Marc ended-up playing a pick-up game against some kid in his early 20’s. Marc still has game when it comes to chess… he won!

We strolled back to our place, minutes from the square, to relax before dinner. Our first day in Christchurch was well spent… even made us feel a little at home, almost.