Christmas Sydney Style

"Tree-cycling"

Sydney Opera House and Bridge

What an amazing building! We were able to buy tickets for the Nutcracker which is in the large concert hall. We had tried online several days ago and nothing was available so we bought tickets for a play instead in one of the smaller rooms, but when we got here, we went to the box office and got 2 single seats. Too bad I can't sit next to Joe but at least we get to see something in that huge, beautiful space. Of course, since I didn't think we were going to anything "grand" I didn't bring my one nice dress with me from Melbourne. Oh well . . .
We had really wanted to do the bridge climb, but it's $200 per person!! And that price doesn't even include the photo they take of you from the top. I can understand why they don't let you bring your own camera because if it's dropped on the windshield of a car, that would not be good. Another oh well . . .
One thing we did do was a speed boat trip through the harbor. That was quite fun! We got wet and wind blown but it was worth it.

Eureka Tower

The building is 92 stories tall. We shot up to the 88th floor where the observation area is,  super fast -- 9 m per second.

Here's a ground level view of Federation Square, where I'm hearing Oprah will be in a few days. We'll be in Sydney when she's here and she's back in Sydney when we've left there and returned here. The Aussies are footing the entire bill for her trip and are very hopeful that all the publicity will entice Americans to come here to vacation. We'll see. . . . it's a loooong plane ride and the U.S. dollar is pretty weak now so it's not cheap to be here.

Bottom middle is Federation Square.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We left the apartment this morning dressed to do a bike ride and on the train decided to check out Fitzroy Gardens and St. Patrick Cathedral first. We never made it to the bike rental place. I felt pretty casual to be walking all around Melbourne, but, oh well. We had a really fun day. We happened upon the cathedral when they were having a Lourdes Day mass. The place was quite full.

Saturday morning on Church Stree

It's just one hour since my last post, but I decided to get a couple photos posted of our daily life. We do love to walk up and down Church Street to people watch, peek into the stores to see the goods, and to sit at an outdoor cafe. Joe's been drinking a lot of hot chocolate here.  While we were sitting at a cafe this morning with our paper and hot beverages, we struck up a conversation with a woman and her dog, Charlie (I guess he really didn't contribute much to the conversation). She was very friendly and talked about how much she loved living for a time in the US. She thinks people here are getting too snobbish and feels they give her quite the looks if she walks around the village in the scuzzy outfits she wears on her long walks. She likes the vibe in small American towns better. I told her she'd love Bloomington.
Our paper came with a Michael Buble Christmas CD. We've got it playing now, and I tell you, it's strange to listen to this kind of music when I'm in shorts and sunblock. After breakfast we're renting bikes in the CBD and going along the Yarra River. No rain in today's forecast for which we, and all the poor farmers, are quite happy about.

The end of a fun-filled day

I forgot to take my camera with me today so the only photo I have to record the fun is this one, taken on Brighton Beach. We walked there after having dinner with the Fredericksons at a wonderful Thai restaurant on Church Street. I do love the ability to just walk everywhere. I really need to take some pictures of the little village we live in.
First thing we did today was tour the Parliament building. There was an election here last weekend and the Liberal party is taking over the state government. The Labour Party had been in control for about the past 11 years. In Australia, "liberals" means Republicans. Here it is mandatory to vote or you face a fine. Our tour guide was quite a character. There's a 5 year project going on right now to replace all the sandstone on the building and when I asked him how many years this new sandstone would last (the first batch lasted 150 years) he said "You're brave to assume we'll be around that many years from now. The scientists are saying it's not just global warming happening but also solar system warming". Then he went on for a bit about that. Pretty funny guy. The carpeting in the building is either red with oak leaf and acorns or green with the same pattern. Didn't know that when royalty visits they have to stay on the red carpet. If they do move to the other area, a red carpet is rolled out for them. Last time Queen Elizabeth was here to open Parliament was in 1952. She's been back 17 or 18 times since then but not on an official "opening day". The new Parliament has their official opening while we're here, Dec. 21. Maybe I'll pop down.
After this, I went to the ACMI and saw the temporary exhibit, "Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales". It was fabulous, though I don't think Joe would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Made me want to have a Disney movie marathon and see some of the classic animated movies again.

Yarra Valley

Sandra and I spent the day in the Yarra Valley -- which really reminds me of Napa Valley. We started out at Bella Vedere for breakfast. I picked up a business card and the town's name is "Coldstream" -- I love it! It was raining, surprise surprise!!, but the gardens were still gorgeous and we enjoyed the views and the food very much. We left there and visited a couple of wineries. At Domaine Chandon, we took the tour and there were only 4 of us. Our young guide was great! Eighteen is the legal drinking age here and he was 19 and quite knowledgeable. I learned a lot about how sparkling wines are made. By now the rain had moved out and the sun was shining, but it was also when my camera battery died, so I only got a few pictures. Sandra is incredibly knowledgeable about wine herself, and it was fun watching her talk to the folks doing the tastings. At one cellar door, one guy even pulled out a bottle that isn't normally on the tasting menu and she loved it and bought a couple of bottles. I can see that having a taste for fine wine would be a very expensive hobby. We spent the evening at Jim and Sandra's where they introduced us to their favorite Belgian chocolate -- Callebaut. They buy 5 kg blocks at a time when they're in the US. That's what I'm spending my money on, and I'm declaring right here, right now (after yesterday's day of decadence) . . . I am only eating vegetables today!