After two hours in line, an hour in a store and an hour on the phone with a call center in India...

...I finally picked up the new iPhone.  It was quite the stressful two weeks that culminated in my patience ready to explode standing in line.  Even though the phone has been out for two weeks here, I still had to get there 45 minutes before the store opened to wait in line.  Once in line, I at least brought along a magazine to help pass the time, but by the time that ran out (two hours to be exact) I was still waiting.  The worst part was when there were only three people in front of me.  Of the three apple employees ringing people up (for a line of 100 plus - talk about great customer service) two of them decided to leave while the third was having a solid 10 minute conversation about nothing with the person buying a phone.  Needless to say, my jaw was clenched and the vein in my forehead was very visible.

I thought it was a victory when I got the phone, but then head to deal with Vodafone.  It took upwards of another hour to just get a micro sim card for the phone.  By the time I got that, I didn't have the patience to wait for iTunes to upgrade at home.  So I called a few friends up to try a new restaurant just down the street from me called the Wine Library.  I walked in and was in heaven.  A wall packed with 300 plus wines and a charcuterie aging room.  I sat down and waited for the other people to arrive.  Only one other person ended up coming so we sat and drank and ate and drank some more and ate some more.  An all around good afternoon.

Today, one of the other people who was going to meet up stopped by to grab a drink and struck up conversation with the bartenders.  And low and behold, they remembered us.  Which I suppose is a good thing.  They remembered us as the two Americans (damn accent) that stuck around for a few bottles of wine and two meals.  And as I look back at the afternoon, it really did end in the evening with multiple bottles of wine and two meals.  And seeing as though they remembered us, I'll have to stop by again soon to capitalize on the recent visit.  And to order the chicken liver parfait and homemade fennel salami.

Oh and of course, the wine.