G'day Mate! Right now I'm sitting with Mesa at a lovely little cafe called Rossini enjoying some really delicious fish and chips. It's located at the Circular Quay warf and we've just finished our Sydney Bridge Climb. It was unfortunately a gloomy rainy day so our views from the top of the bridge weren't the best. But we had a fun time anyway. It wasn't very strenuous either, so if you're thinking of doing a trip to Sydney - put it on your itinerary! It's a must! Only 1,437 steps!
Our leader, Tom, was very knowledgeable and told some interesting stories across our radios. Like how this dude was working on the bridge and fell off about 50 meters but luckily he was a high diver and knew to go in feet first. He ended up with a few broken ribs but he went back to work 16 days later. Pretty lucky guy! This year the bridge celebrated it's 80th anniversary. We got to keep our hats too! In our group picture, look closely off to the right to see the opera house.
After lunch we walked over to the Opera House for our tour. It is pretty impressive up close. You always think that it's white, but when you're up close it actually has two-toned tiles: a creamy color and an egg shell like color. The tour guide we had, Alan, was really good. So passionate about this remarkable World Heritage Site. Jørn Utzon was the architect and started construction in 1959. His design almost didn't make it. It was put in the rejected pile but one of the judges was late and asked to look through them once he arrived. Because the project took much longer than the 3 years he estimated and they way overspent the 7 million estimated he ended up resigning from the project in 1966 after pressure about the project. He left Sydney and never came back to see it completed. (I'm not afraid to admit that hearing that made me sad and almost tear up). Luckily, there was reconciliation with Utzon, in 1999 he was brought on as an architect for future renovations and projects and his son is very involved and is in Sydney quite frequently. I'd say the best part of our tour was that we went into the performance hall for Swan Lake. The male lead had to use an understudy for tonights performance and they were rehearsing when we went in. It was really cool to see the ballet dancers there rehearsing. Unfortunately, the show was sold out 6 months ago so that was all of the performance we will see.
After the tour we walked around to the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens because Eoin said there was a good photo spot there. We weren't disappointed. Although our legs were quite tired, it's been nice to walk around a bit.
We met up with Eoin for dinner after he was done working. I had a delicious chili crab linguine that was tossed in a lemon and mint sauce. Yum! Afterwards, we went to the Shangri-La Hotel. There's a bar on the 36th floor, Bar Blu, that has an amazing view of the bridge and the opera house. They also have a drink called The Martini on the Rock for $10, 000 that comes with a diamond in the glass and a hotel room. A little ridiculous, but maybe some girls like super over the top proposals. Regardless, with the city full of lights, and fabulous company, it was a nice way to end to our evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment