Turns out, like most things, the UNSW campus is even nicer in person!
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| On the way there, we saw some guy on a bike promoting a new gym. Go figure. |
When we first got to the campus, we had to park at the very top of the garage. It was the only place we could find a spot (and I think technically the only place we were allowed to park, anyway). We arrived quite a bit early for Wes' meeting, so we just went for a little wander and took the scenic route through campus.
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| "Seriously? I'm eating, here." |
Along the way, we stopped so that Wes could get a sausage at a fundraiser sausage sizzle. There were students everywhere on the quadrangle courts we walked through, relaxing, reading, socializing and enjoying the sunshine between lectures and class sessions.
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| Ahhh. The Rigors of Academia (note the Random but Important Capitals). |
Eventually, I had to split apart from Wes, who had to go to his meeting. For the next hour or so, I wandered the campus, just taking in the scenery. There were people everywhere! The scenery was almost surreal in its picturesqueness. I felt like I'd walked onto a movie set rather than a university campus.
There were a few clubs out promoting themselves, including the Bike Club, what sounded like some sort of literary club and some tent with a flight simulator set up inside. There were also a lot of lounging students still around, interspersed with really ballsy ibises and magpies.
To be honest, the photos really do most of the talking for me:
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| Check out that sky! |
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| Ooooh. Vortices. |
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| An Ibis and a Magpie were chilling on the quad ... (Stop me if you've heard this one!) |
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| Seriously. These birds are afraid of nothing. This magpie was drinking right out of the fountain. |
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| These stairs would keep any student in shape! |
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| Of course, if the stairs aren't enough, you can always join the bike club! |
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| Yeah. This stomps all over the sundial in Truman's Sunken Garden. Easily. For a start, it has all of its numerals. And isn't covered in vines. |
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| The Globe up close. I ... realize now that I never took one from a distance. |
After his meeting, Wes met me by the Globe and we departed for parts (somewhat) unknown. While he had been busy with Chris, I had been busy looking up empanada restaurants in the Sydney area, to figure out which one it was that he and Pete had so enjoyed. I found two in the area that sounded likely (Bodega and La Paula) and presented them both to Wes when he found me.
It turns out that La Paula was the correct guess after all!
We crossed the rest of campus, reclaimed Wes' car and headed over a few blocks to La Paula. It took some creative driving on his part, but Wes got a really nice spot right around the corner from the bakery.
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| I wore black. Wes likes it when I wear black. |
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| I was kind of rumpled and didn't know how to pose, but he called me gorgeous, anyway. Awwww. |
La Paula is actually a Chilean bakery, rather than just an empanada place, but we went there for our foldover pies and that was what we got! I ordered an empanada de pico (beef, olive and egg) and an empanada de pollo (chicken mince and spices). Wes ordered the same, plus one with spinach, cheese and egg for later. They were absolutely delicious, though very different from the ones sold at Marini's in Houston. Marini's rolls their edges while La Paula folds theirs over from all directions.
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| From the top, going clockwise: Me, spinach, beef and chicken |
Regardless of the differences, the empanadas were amazing. We didn't manage to eat the spinach one before we left, so we took it in a bag to go. We also found out that they sell mil hojas cakes as well, which I may have to go back for some day (they don't do single servings; just whole cakes).
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| Quick snap of a restaurant we saw on the way home. |
Later that night, Wes caught me dipping into the spinach empanada we'd brought home. I couldn't help myself. They really were just that good!
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| Okay, so I guess I do look a bit feral. |
