The first morning in Sydney started with a tour of the Opera House. It was amazing to see the structures up close and realize the tiles really aren't white and the buildings really do look unique. Immediately they make you think of Sydney. Inside the buildings were just as impressive with amazing acoustics such as no requirement for microphones because of the architecture and wood used to project the perfect pitch to the audience. I also enjoyed the ergonomically correct chairs that made me want to melt into them while enjoying some symphony or opera (unfortunately we did not see a show there but that is just a reason to go back).
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| Inside the Opera House |
After the Opera House tour we headed off to the Harbour Bridge to walk across it and soak up the views of the bay and the Opera House.
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| View of the Harbour Bridge and Ferries from the Opera House |
It really gives you a unique view of the old city area and the current financial district area. We could also see Circular Quay (pronounced "key") where the ferries are dropping off the office workers in the morning and taking them home at night.
After working up a sweat we managed to walk a few more miles to meet Kevin for lunch at Harry's Cafe De Wheels which is an institution in Sydney. It is a permanent cart that specializes in meat pies (very Australian dish) with your choice of plain or mash (mashed potatoes) and/or mushy peas on top.
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| Kevin and I enjoying our pies |
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| Close up of a Tiger Pie |
We had the Tiger pie that included both mash and mushy peas on top of a beef pie with gravy poured on top of all of it. It was simply delicious and a great way to gear up for our next activity which was walking through the Royal Botanical Gardens.
The Gardens themselves were beautiful and diverse including succulents, flowers, trees and even a some wild cockatoos and wild flying foxes.
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| Fruit Bat/Flying Fox stretching his wings |
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| View from the Botanic Gardens |
We then got a ride from Kevin to Bondi Beach to experience the ocean, the cold wind, wandering around the small cafes and beach side stores and then we bid him farewell for his journey back to the US and our journey back into Sydney where we just perused some tourist shops and then sat down for some dinner and drinks at a few different pubs. We started out at Cruise Bar with great Opera House views, then off to the Australian Hotel where you can get crocodile, emu, and Kangaroo pizza, and ended at The Argyle. It was very fun to people watch, drink some good wine, and was a much needed rest stop after touring around all day...and what a fun first full day in Sydney.
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| Sunset in Sydney |
of the Opera House, you got there just after a large acoustics conference took place not far from it::
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ica2010sydney.org/
also a fun fact, the acoustics inside the opera house itself are known to be subpar, especially for the musicians themselves!