a day in Sydney

Yesterday was an amazing and long day! Mike and I went into Sydney, and we really saw a lot! We started the day at 730 in the morning, walking down to Manly to catch the 8.15 ferry. We were unaware that there was an 8 oclock ferry, but as soon as we got close to the wharf I saw that there was a ferry already there, and people began to run past us - so we started walking faster. It was right at 8 oclock and the ferry worker let us through the gates without paying (which was nice, but we have ferry passes that we already paid for, so now we just have an uneven amount of rides left!) It was a beautiful morning, and there were not many people on the ferry. Once we arrived into Sydney, we went to Starbucks for breakfast where I got myself a grande white chocolate mocha and a banana loaf to start the day off right.

After a quick breakfast, we walked to Darling Harbour to our first stop - the IMAX theater to see Avatar 3D! On our walk there, we encountered some interesting people. One of these people was an old man who did not appear homeless but was looking in the trash. I looked back and saw him pull out an almost empty beer bottle and drink from it! Disturbing to say the least and I had to contain my gag reflex for the next few minutes. Once we got to the IMAX theater, we had to wait for it to open. I was glad that I ordered the tickets online, because once the doors opened to the theater the lines were really long to buy tickets, luckily we were able to go right to the theater and sit down in our seats. The IMAX theater in Darling Harbour has the biggest screen in the entire world!! I was in awe of how big the screen was. Our seats were pretty much right in the middle and we had a great view. At first with the screen being so big and everything being 3D I got a little dizzy, but soon I was just enjoying the movie! It was great seeing Avatar a third time.

When we walked out of the theater the bright light was blinding! Mike and I walked over to the Sydney Tower. We took an elevator up to a gallery area where we checked in for our lunch reservation, and then we took another elevator up to the top! there are four different floors at the top. The restaurant was buffet style with really good food. I had two plates full! I even tried and liked fried calamari - I think that's because I forgot what calamari really was, and later Mike reminded me it is squid... oh well. Even though the food was so good and much better than the food at school, the best part of the experience was the view!! The floor on which the dining tables are set on rotates very slowly so we could see a 360 degree view. We could see Darling Harbour, Sydney Olympic Park, the Bridge, the Opera House, the city of Manly, and even tiny ICMS! Lots of pictures were taken and once we were stuffed with delicious food we took the elevators back to ground level. What an experience!

It was definitely time to take a walk after eating all of that food. We went from the Sydney Tower to Hyde Park. There was a game of giant chess going on - the pieces were about 2 feet big or so and the board was designed right on the ground. We walked to the centre of Hyde Park - Archibald Fountain. It was beautiful and behind it was St. Mary's Cathedral which chimed it's bells at the hour. The building's construction started in 1821 and it was opened in 1882. It would be nice to go to mass there sometime.. since I haven't been to church here yet (oops.) I've been too busy, right?!

From Hyde Park we walked to the Botanical Gardens. There we walked on "Mrs. Macquerie's Bushwalk" which was beautiful and went along a harbour. We passed by many flowers as well as the Art Museum of New South Wales and Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool which is a pool right on the water's edge. At one point we were looking out at the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf and Mike pointed out something in the water. Penguins!! It was definitely one of the highlights of my day to see two little penguins swimming in the bay. I tried to get pictures, but they kept bobbing up and down in the water. Very exciting nonetheless. We reached Mrs. Macquerie's Chair which is a famous lookout point. Elizabeth Macquerie was the governor's wife in 1816, and everyday she would watch the harbor from the stone bench. Soon we reached a beautiful area that looked across to the Opera House and Bridge. There, it started raining. We still had a great walk - but we saw many wedding parties along the way taking pictures, and even one actual wedding where they were saying their vows under umbrellas! We came across a pretty pond and a couple of great climbing trees. The Gardens are really big and we only saw a portion - I want to go back and walk around more (preferably on a non rainy day!)

Soon we reached the Sydney Opera House. It is a great piece of architecture and we explored all around it. There is a gift shop inside so we walked around a little bit inside as well. Something that I didn't realize was that it is really three separate structures, not just one! Mike's great idea of the day was to lick the Opera House ("because who can say that they have done that before?") so for some reason I did that as well. Check one off of the weird things to do while in Sydney list! We went around behind the Opera House and took pictures of the Bridge before we continued on our walk along the Harbour. I'm on a hunt for Australian UGGs since Leila decided I needed a new pair right before I left (or she chewed one of my shoes up) but we went in a few different souvenir stores along the way so I could compare prices. We were back at Circular Quay before we knew it, but we weren't done for the day!

We walked to the Rocks and down George and Hickson Streets to get to "Pancakes on the Rocks." I heard about this Pancake place a couple of weeks ago, and I had been dying to go there ever since. We had to wait a few minutes to get a table at this two level pancake restaurant that also offered salads, pizzas, etc. Why would you get pizza from a pancake place?? I'll never know. We had a little bit of confusion with the wait staff because they don't pair a waiter with a table there, they all just run around taking orders and then other members of the staff bring out the meal. Soon enough we ordered (while enjoying nice cold beers to relax from the day!). Our food came our quickly - I ordered "Devil's Delight" which was two chocolate pancakes, cream, chocolate ice cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce topping! It was beyond delicious!

The ferry ride back at night was really pretty - seeing the skyline all lighted was amazing!! Overall, we saw and accomplished a lot. Cheers from the other side of the world!!