The cacophonous din of an entire Grade 8 mob descending on a suburban bowling alley has to be heard to be believed: our ears are still ringing. The rolling thunder of 40 heavy rocks being jettisoned down polished wooden runways, the hysterical screaming of 210 kids let out of a restricted environment into one of heady delight, and the ringing of bells, scraping of electronic sweepers and microphone instructions all made for an aural cocktail of head-zinging proportions.
The "Wellness" celebration day was in full swing late last week and the bus trip down was literally the calm before the storm. Mercifully, no-one broke into song on the bus down or back, so it was slightly better than the camp transportation! Cass sensibly cocooned herself in grading for much of the time, although how she was able to concentrate is anyone's guess. I wandered the lanes dispensing tips and scoring the odd strike. If I bowled one, I just walked away from that lane: quitting on top! The rest of the day back at school was mildly tedious doing a succession of "wellness" activities, but a sweet relief compared to the bowled out morning.
We always praise the good old U S of A on this long weekend....what a great holiday Thanksgiving is! We've been swamped with grading and hard days at work recently, so much so that we haven't even planned a holiday for Christmas, just a few short weeks away....maybe we'll get to that this weekend. We didn't get around to it this short break as we had a few local experiences that occupied our time.
We took the car over for an early check-in at the new Taipei Marriott in the Dazhi area of town in the gleaming new metropolis near Neihu. We'd booked to stay the night in this flash hotel with a claim to have Taipei's greatest night view from their bar and grill on the 20th floor. Our room was on the 16th floor and very, very slick and beautifully appointed. We tried to take advantage of the bar to have a sunset drink but we were disappointed to discover it had been fully booked for a private party. Undeterred, we repaired to the luxurious lobby lounge and consumed some delicious champagnes and gin and tonics before getting ready for our dinner date at the nearby Ruth's Chris.
We passed on the gastronomic highlights of the area which include some pretty impressive restaurants. We'd already been to 168 Prime which is a steak restaurant and Michelin starred. We hoped to go again, but it was booked out. The attractions of Raw and Tairroir (similarly star crossed by Michelin) are obvious, but we've found ourselves a little overwhelmed in the past by these mega fine dining experiences: there is only so much fusion and foam and full blown blending of ingredients that one can take! Ruth's Chris is upmarket, predictable and of a high quality with delightful wait staff, crisp linen (Mum!), fine crockery and silver service. We always walk away too full as we can't resist the desserts either.
We had a late checkout of 12 o'clock so decadently breakfasted late in the cavernous and luxuriously appointed garden lounge. In true high-end hotel style the buffet banquet was extensive, fresh and delicious. A visit to the 19th floor gym and pool and a stroll around the mall of shops and restaurants beneath finished our visit in style before we motored home in the silver bullet to our needy animal and more mundane living!
Over the long weekend we also enjoyed some pretty cool access to Australian sports shows as well. I'm paranoid that word might get out about my shady maneuvers, so I won't name the app. Suffice to say that through a combination of using a VPN, an Australian credit card and address, as well as a lightning fast father-in-law relaying a phone code from Australia (thanks Chris!), I've managed to gain us access to an incredible range of Australian sports products including all the cricket....seventh heaven! I'm reading Dark Sacred Night, Connelly's brand new one and Cass is reading NW by Zadie Smith. Photos of bowling and our short stay, with more photos here (link to Taipei Marriot stay)