Sydney - Part 1 - September 2010

Day 7 - September 22

I arrived in Sydney at 7am. For some reason my middle name was not on my visa so I had to wait while they corrected it.

I took a taxi to my friend's apartment. Nothing more than amazing can describe the apartment, which was directly next to and overlooks the Sydney Opera House.

Day view from the apartment.

Night view from the apartment.

I met Jeane and Jay for lunch - and I could see how exhausted they were after their flight from LAX to Sydney. We had lunch at our first pub.

We then took a ferry to Manly Beach for a nice afternoon. Jay tested the South Pacific water. There were lots of surfers and volleyball players on the beach.

I'm now back at the apartment - just looking a the lit Opera House.

Day 8 - September 23

Weather deferred our bridge climb until tomorrow.

We headed off to the Queen Victoria Building, with its beautiful architecture, stained glass windows, tile, clocks and shops. We bought some laser cut Sydney jigsaw puzzles.

Next off to the Rocks, an older seedier section of town. We hooked up with a local guide that Jeane had heard about on the flight over.

Here's the Hero of Waterloo pub where we had our second (of many) pub meals.

Here we are with the iconic Opera House in the background.

Dinner was at a Greek restaurant on Oxford Street - a young, vibrant part of town.

I took the wrong bus home, but was successful on my second try. I'm still amazed that I'm overlooking the Sydney Opera House as I write this.

Day 9 - September 24

Today is Jeane's birthday - and what a day we had planned for her. Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and seeing the Pirates of Penzance at the Opera House.

What an amazing adventure. Even putting on the gear was interesting, and Adam, our guide, couldn't be any cuter.

We started at 10:25 am, and ended three hours later. The weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky. Its too bad no cameras are allowed. The guide took a group photo, which is how we'll remember the climb. I took these photos a few days later from one of the pylons on the bridge.

Once you got to the actual bridge, the climb was very easy and leisurely.

This was on the way down.

Pub grub again for lunch at the Australian Hotel in the Rocks.

In the afternoon we took a ferry to quaint Woolrich, with beautiful harbour views and houses.

We ended the day with the Sydney Opera House's production of The Pirates of Penzance - amazing, funny, fantastic, bravo. They ad a display above the stage with the words, which was really helpful at times. During one of the really fast songs the sign displayed "too many words."

The lead pirate was dressed like Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow. We didn't know if he stole the character or visa versa. In any event, all the actors were amazing. For me it was a short walk to the apartment - Jeane and Jay took the bus home.

See Sydney Part 2.