Postcards to Iowa

Sydney – Exploring the City!

After an early night (both fell asleep before 9:00 pm local time) we were up by 6:00 AM and out the door by 8:00 AM (I told Derek I cannot believe how great it feel to get up early – I wish I could do this always … however my internal clock is not typically 6 hours ahead).  We started the day at an amazing breakfast spot in The Rocks (historic part of Sydney) The Rocks Cafe.  I went for avocado toast and Derek took the prize with his corn, carrot and zucchini dish.

Guess there are laws that you cannot have alcohol before 10 AM (maybe on Sunday??) so we settled for coffee and saved the mimosas for later in the day.

Walking around The Rocks Neighbor

Walking around the Sydney Opera House area

There is a bridge climb – the people below are on the TOP of the arch – I thought about doing this, but this looks WAY out of my comfort zone

The Sydney Opera House

We did a 1-hour tour and it was the perfect overview and we felt we saw everything we needed to.  We thought about doing the behind the screens tour but we were glad we did not.  not only was it 4x the price but it was 3-4 hours long.  1-hour was perfect.

Seats are staggered so you do not have a head directly in front of you…why is every isn’t every theater like that??!

Great view while waiting for a show to start

The Opera house is actually designed by two different architects and is actually two different buildings.  The outside and then the inside which is the opera house.  Here is a great picture to show the outside and then the wood of the inside

So much thought was put into EVERYTHING of the Opera House.  My favorite part was the stairs up to the Opera house – they created to reflect the same feeling the architect had when visiting the Mayan Ruins – walking up the stairs to a new experience – being transported out the forest into a new world with views over the forest..here people of Sydney would walk up the stairs and be transformed by the arts.

Looks like Lake Union!

Close up the titles are actually not white but different colors ranging from beige to pink to off white.  The titles are also triple coated so when it rains they are self cleaning

The Sydney Aquarium

We headed back to the room for a MUCH needed rest.  our feet were throbbing and we had been in the sun for a long time (and are not used to that!)  After a couple hours we ventured back down to The Rocks for a historic ghost tour

The Rocks Ghost Tour

I am not a believer however I love these tours as they are usually loaded with history and a great way to see the city.  This is the only tour we could get in on while we were here and it was also the most popular.  It was OK – we both LOVED seeing the hidden parts of North Rocks.  Loving the nights and the old historic buildings around ever corner mixed with newer but still charming buildings, this neighbor is by far the quaintest neighbor I have ever been to.

The ghost tour was more stories about murder and about the ghosts that are haunting the area.  Since I am not a believer it was a little silly HOWEVER at the end of the tour Derek was up on the stairs and I was below and I felt something really cold all around me and Derek felt me touch his back, but he turned around and saw I was all the way at the bottom of the stairs.  After the tour a women came up to me and said she thought I might want to see the picture she took of me – it showed an aura around me and it was actually the exact time I felt cold and Derek felt the hand.  Like I said, I am not a believer but this was pretty neat and everyone who was a believer loved it and was really freaked out.

The tour got over later than we thought and we had not planned the best – it was 9:55 PM and we were starving! The only place we could find that was open was an Italian restaurant, and they allowed us to do carry-out.  We headed back with about a pound of yummy Italian food, ate it and then fell into a long slumber – what a long, productive day!