Saturday, December 01, 2007

Bar review - The TransContinental

The past couple of weeks, I have been feeling myself again. That meant of course taking the time to rekindle old friendships that had been dormant for a while. K and R are two close friends of mine with whom I hadn't had the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time.

In a way, I think I (involuntarily) pushed them away because I didn't want to pretend I was all that well, when it wasn't the case. I felt like I had to apologize for my behavior. However, both K and R were extremely sweet and understanding, and they said I had nothing to apologize for. It was so nice to have again a chance to just chat and talk about the good old times, like when we used to go for brunch to a different restaurant every Sunday.

I agreed to come downtown to make it easier for K and R, who generously treated me to drinks and appetizers at The Transcontinental. The Transcontinental is an upscale restaurant/bar located in the Canadian Pacific Railway Station. A branch/new location of popular post-work drinks hangout Steamworks, The Transcontinental is much nicer in many ways than Steamworks itself (less loud, more room and better atmosphere, in my opinion).

Not to diss Steamworks, though! I really enjoy going there for a drink after work, but I am not always able to talk to people because it is quite loud. Nevertheless, I show up for Green Drinks @ Steamworks quite often. But I think I enjoy better The Transcontinental.

The service wasn't as good as I expected it to be (the server was quite bad, actually). The first spiced rum for K was flat, but the second one was better. The appetizers were quite good (when they finally showed up). However, the best part of the evening was spending time with K and R like old times. It was almost like no time had ever passed.

It is very nice to find that, no matter how much you push your friends away (consciously or unconsciously), they always find a way to get back in your life. And I am very happy that K and R came back to my life. Really, I'll say they never left. They gave me enough space to sort my life out and now that I am back as the Raul I (and they) used to know, they've welcomed me back with open arms. So that means that when I get back to Vancouver in the New Year, brunch Sundays will be back with a vengeance :-) Yipee!!!!

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