Thursday, April 15, 2010

In Sydney's CBD (Central Business District)

I'm going to do the blog a little differently tonight by commenting on the first two photos and then filling you in on our whole day before showing you lots and lots of photos of what we did today. If you are tired of my ramblings, you'll be able to skip that part. If you are tired of my photos, you can skip them. And if you are tired of both, you can leave this blog and web surf!

The first photo here is to show Rob and Elizabeth "mission accomplished." The Coca-Cola yoyos are in the same photo to show a couple of freebies that Bob got at Luna Park.



Bob saw this fellow at Luna Park and thought it was Colin. I, tragically, had to break it to him that it was just a Colin-look-alike.

We had such a wonderful time with the Booths and we can never adequately thank them for their hospitality. We saw so much extra because of their careful planning and it made our trip so memorable. However, today it was time to say goodbye. Before we left them though, they took us over to their daughter and her husband's home. He makes the most amazing puppets and I had lots of questions about the process.

They had three didgeridoos and a combo was quickly formed. It's not every morning that you are serenaded by such sweet music.

Colin drove us to our hotel in the city. Those of you familiar with the city will be able to figure out how far we walked today. Those of you who aren't familiar with the city will have to believe me when I tell you that we walked miles.

Our hotel is south of Hyde Park. We walked over to the Queen Victoria Building which has great architectural details and some very upscale shops. I have included a photo of some of the interior as well as one of the stained glass windows. I like that photo because it shows not only the window, but people walking by outside the building.

We continued our walk and came to Wynyard Station. It made me realize that Aussies must be more respectful of Mr. Wynyard (whoever the heck he is!) because they have named two places after him while Canada has named only one place after him.

We kept walking (I just know I will be using those three words often in the posting) and got to where we could walk onto the Harbour Bridge and we walked until we got to the pylon where we could climb stairs to the top for the view. It was well worth the climb as we had good views of the Opera House, the harbour, and the bridge itself. Elizabeth will spot bridge walkers and be envious that she isn't one of them.

We walked across the bridge with me stopping numerous times to take photos. I believe I took over fifty photos of the Opera House today from various points. I tried to do a few arty ones from around Luna Park.

We got off the bridge and walked to Luna Park. We were impressed with this little park and took time to ride the ferris wheel. We were asked if we would share our car on the ferris wheel with two little boys, probably about six years old. We said that would be fine, but weren't too sure after one of them got scared. We kept him talking though and, pretty soon, he was braver.

We left Luna Park and took a break from walking by catching a ferry to Darling Harbour. We went to the Sydney Aquarium and enjoyed it very much. My favorite was the coral reef area, but I also enjoyed getting this photo of part of the crocodile. He looked asleep but his eyes were open.

I was thinking we would find some convenient transportation when we left the aquarium, but Bob pointed out that there was no reason we couldn't walk back to the hotel. I wouldn't have agreed but by this time I was ready for supper and hoped to find an interesting place to eat somewhere along the route. We did find a good place to eat and the meal gave me just enough energy (barely!) to get back to the hotel.


































3 comments:

  1. I noticed all the shopping and not one store that made dog cookies. I really want some Ausie Doggie Cookies. Love Cuddles

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  2. With all the stores you visited, you did not visit one that sold doggie cookies. I really want an Ausie Doggie cookie. Love Cuddles

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  3. Dear Cuddles- All of the shopping is gifts for me and Rob of course. Don't worry. Mom isn't being selfish.

    Dear Mom- at the Rocks markets there was a home made doggie treat stand. Just saying.

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