Sightseeing Christchurch

On Friday morning we go to another one of my cousins, she will show us around in Christchurch. We hop in her car and drive to town. We start at the stadium, it will be demolished because of the damage that it has from the earthquakes. The front isn’t there anymore and today they are working on the big lights. My cousin hopes that it will keep a sport destination.
We also go to the catholic cathedral, it was badly damaged during the earthquakes. You can see more of it than 5 years ago, there are many cracks in the walls and a lot of windows are broken. She tells us about the statue of Mary, she looked into the church but after the quakes, she had turned halfway, looking outside the church. We go on and make another stop at a playground, made afterwards. It is a beautiful place and there are a lot of children playing. The ground is mainly rubber so they don’t hurt themselves if they fall. We see huge slides, nice swings, water games of all sorts, several climbing frames, picnic tables and a lot more. A very inviting environment. But it did cost a lot of money.
We drive to the city centre and park the car. We see a lot of things, statues of James Cook and queen Victoria of England, several murals and very pretty ones too. Because of buildings were demolished, a lot of old signs from formal shops were revealed. We have a coffee in a beautiful, restored street. We decide to hop on the tram, it is a hop on-hop off which is very convenient. So we hop on and hop off at cathedral square to have a look at the remains of the Anglican cathedral. On the square there are several food trucks, Hungarian, Polish, Spanish, Asian and a lot more. We eat a Hungarian sort of bread roll, it tastes very nice. There is also a stall with woodcarving. Hop on the tram and hop off at the university buildings. We go inside, a beautiful stain glass window which was restored very well. On part of the walls we see new stones and restored ornaments. They are still working on it and there is a map that shows what will be done and finished including time schedule. Nearby there are some nice tourist stalls, you can buy wood carved products, beanies, paua shells and a lot more. We go back on the tram again and step out at the container mall. The container mall was made so that shops have a place to sell their products as long as they are rebuilding the city. They have statues that look like street artists from a distance. We hop on the tram for the last time to go back to the car.
My cousin drives up the hills above Christchurch a nice narrow road going straight down on my side. We have a great view, on one side we see Qual island and on the other side is Christchurch as far as we can see. We go back home after a very enjoyable day with a lovely personal guide, who told us a lot of things about Chch.