On Sundays the library doesn't open until 12pm so we decided to have a Starbucks as a treat and we thought it would kill some time as normally the queue is really long. But when we got down there (it's at the bottom of our apartment building) there was no queue so we quickly had a look at the cakes and I spotted a Pumpkin Muffin which had a cream cheese topping and Steve got a Morning Bun which is almost identical to a Chelsea Bun. They offered to warm up his bun (now that's service!) so it was extra yummy. I really liked the Pumpkin Muffin, it was light, fluffy and moist, but Steve thought it had too much spice in it, maybe nutmeg? The cream cheese topping was a bit too much for me as we ordered hot chocolates as well and I was absolutely stuffed so I only managed to drink half of mine. The best part is 2 cakes and 2 drinks came to $10, so that's about £5, which is really cheap compared to the UK.

So we killed some time just looking out the window and watching all the people go past. We noticed a couple of the roads had been blocked off so we wondered what event was happening today that we hadn't heard about. We do try to read the free papers that list events etc. but we never see things advertised that we happen to stumble upon. We knew it was Veteran's Day on Tuesday so we thought it might be related to that.

A fire engine pulled up outside with their sirens blaring and we thought they were making an emergency stop at Starbucks. But then an ambulance pulled up too and the paramedics wheeled out a gurney into the apartment building so we thought it might have been for the old man who lives next door to us who constantly coughs like he smokes 60-a day. But we got bored waiting so we headed for the farmers market to pick up some veggies. In case you're interested, we've seen the old man since, so we know the ambulance wasn't for him.

We could hear bagpipes playing along with a band and then we saw people in army uniforms so we followed them to City Hall where there was a parade for Veteran's Day. It was pretty cool to watch as they had lots of different groups represented, unfortunately we didn't have a camera. Our favourites were the music ones like the Drum Corp and the Bugle Brigade (OK that's not their real name but I can't remember it!) and I was just so amazed how the drummers can drum whilst marching. There were also people waving flags from 122 different countries (Steve was miffed he couldn't see a British flag), some military dogs which were announced as "The Canine Dogs!" (is there another kind? feline dogs maybe?) who were really cute with flags in their mouths and there was a carriage being pulled by Shire horses.

Then it was time the library opened so we did email and stuff, tried to talk to Steve's mum on the web cam but she wasn't there. The Internet is really slow in the library as people play online games or look at buy-a-bride websites (that's what Steve said he saw some guy doing, looking at lots of semi-naked women!) so we couldn't post up a lot of photos or any videos we've taken.

So we headed back to the apartment and waited until it was time to go to John and Erica's place for dinner. John is the guy who Steve used to sit next to at work and who would laugh at the English words Steve used. For example Steve was telling John about the farmer in the UK who shot the intruders who were trying to steal from his house and he said it's crazy you can't defend your own property from being 'burgled'. John was like "Burgled?! What is that?! We call it burglarized". When Steve told me I was sure John was winding him up, but according to Microsoft Word it is a word! John has also never heard of a cup being called a mug and had no idea what it meant to 'chuck something away'. So they used to amuse each other teaching each other English when they would go to Starbucks near their work.

Anyway, we went to John's place for dinner and he cooked us the best steak we've had in a long time. It was at least 1.5 inches thick and cooked to absolute perfection, juicy and melt in the mouth and with the tasty bit of fat and the bone left on for maximum flavour. He served it with mashed potato and sugar snaps pea so we were very happy and told John we'd been looking for a great place that does steak and now we've found it! His girlfriend Erica had baked a Red Velvet Cake, which is basically sponge cake with red food colouring but it was also really moist and she put a really nice icing on it. So Steve had 2 pieces, which was a good sign that this cake was great, as she said her first attempt got burnt because their oven lies to them!

John and Erica were actually on the same table as us at Martin and Star's wedding, but unfortunately we didn't know them then, as Steve had only just started work and it took a while before him and John got to know each other. But we will hopefully meet up with them again before we leave.