Remember a few weeks ago when I first passed through Wellington for around 16 hours? Now I’m back for round two and can’t wait to see more of this place.

I spend my first day simply walking around on my own two feet. The city is well laid-out and easy to navigate. And since its situated right on the sea, there are pretty views in every direction.

This is Te Papa, a HUGE museum celebrating New Zealand history and culture. I’ll explore it in tomorrow’s post.

And here’s the Circa Theatre, where I hope to catch a show later this evening.

There is a guy out front in face paint. It’s unclear if he’s with the theater or just on his own.

How’s this for a view?

I snap the above photo from a giant concrete structure, as seen below. It’s like a playground for adults — it reminds me of “the castle park” full of wooden bridges and towers where my sister and I used to play when we were kids. But this is all cement and clearly a major walking path through the city.

There are all sorts of nooks and crannies to sit for conversation or eat lunch (I notice lots of people doing both). It’s very much a public space decorated with odd, artful touches. I love it.

This is a “hidden” passage on the ground level.

And I love this quote —

“This is the city of action, the world headquarters of the verb” — how perfect for the capital city of the Adventure Capital of the World (say that three times fast).

I love the imagination that went into the details of this place.

Finally I continue on towards a main square. This pyramid captures my attention.

It’s not until this point that I realize there is a GRADUATION taking place in the adjoining square. The ceremony has just concluded and the area is completely packed with newly minted grads.

I move into the crowd to snap photos of strangers enjoying their special day. Just call me the graduation crasher.

Everyone is so happy. It’s a joy to mull about this crowd.

Eventually I break away to visit the Te Papa Museum… more to come tomorrow!