Rochester Part Three: The Next Day

Rob and I took the opportunity of being in a hotel with black-out curtains and no cats to sleep in on Friday morning. After that, we had a busy day of shopping with our very strong Canadian dollar. One of my friends grew up in Rochester, so she pointed us in the direction of Java's Cafe - easily one of the best coffee bars I've ever seen in North America. It likely helps that it's next to a music school. We fueled up on scones, peanut butter cheesecakes, and warm bevvies. So yummy!

After that, again guided by my Rochester friend along with Board Game Geek, we found Millenium Games. MG is just about the last place I'd want to spend an evening but for an hour during a weekday I was able to tolerate it. Especially since the games were quite affordable and they did stock some of my favorite ones. We left with Bohnanza (already a hit with the friends), Settlers of Catan, and Fluxx and then made our way down the street to Marketplace Mall. Marketplace wasn't the best mall in Rochester but it did have a few good stores. Namely, Bath and Body Works where I bought my favorite lip gloss (only available in the US), The Children's Place where I bought sleepers at 3/$25 instead of the Canadian 3/$40. We went to Macy's because I'd never been before but they don't have a maternity section and I wasn't in the mood for purse shopping (shocking, I know!). Rob was disappointed that the CDs and video games were price matched so well to Canada - almost no discounts were to be found there.

From Marketplace, we skipped across to DSW shoes - definitely my favorite discount shoe store. Rob got a nice pair of Clarks and I picked up a pair of Steve Madden black ballet flats both for a good price. From there, it was on to my American Mecca - Target. Rob got jeans and I got some maternity clothes to round out the wardrobe that my mum started for me (to which Carolyn and Karen have both added by lending). We got a CD and a book and lots of candy. We checked out the Babies R Us next door but didn't see anything too great. Rob went to Best Buy and got another CD and some Xbox game card thingy.

From there, we went to Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester but still only a 15 minute drive. We went there hoping that the Tripp Trapp highchair we'd ordered from Simon's (that mum and Ron are buying us) would have arrived - but sadly it had not. Instead, my friend's parents will be bringing it to us this coming weekend when they come to Ontario for Thanksgiving. We hopped across the street to Rochester's biggest Barnes and Noble and shopped around. Rob kind of pooped out, securing only two books (1 and 2). I found lots I wanted to buy but was nearing the end of my budget so I also pooped out and only got two books (1 and 2). The books are definitely a better price in the US right now. Plus, my friend lent me her B&N discount card so we got all four books for about $25.

Then we grabbed a quick dinner, stealthily packed many of our new things into a suitcase and headed for home. Quite a consumerist weekend overall!

Talk to you soon,

B.