SYDNEY (Part 1)

View out our hotel window

On Friday, March 19th, Scott, Juliet and I drove to Sydney for the weekend. Juliet booked us into a hotel in North Sydney, the Sydney Harbourview Hotel, and we arrived around 2 pm. Our room had a great view of the Sydney Bridge and Harbour! Virginia, you would have loved the view! The room also had the strangest window that looked into and out of the bathroom. Thankfully it had a window shade that could be pulled down!

We had reserved tickets for a 1-1/2 hour cocktail cruise on the Captain Cook Cruise Line which departed from Wharf 6 at the Circular Quay (pronounced "key") so we walked to the underground train station. As we approached the ticket area, we saw a group of boys just getting home from school. They were all dressed in their school uniforms and somehow I could not see my grandson wearing the knee socks and hat! This picture is for you Matt!

We caught the subway and were on our way. This was my first experience with subways and I found them to be very intimidating! It was a good thing Juliet knew where we were going and how to get there or I might still be riding the subway (like the MTA......never to return).

And we are off!

The cruise was really fun and gave us wonderful views of the Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Harbour has two "masterpieces": one is the Opera House with its roofs depicting billowing white sails. It stands on Sydney Cove, close to the spot where Governor Arthur Phillip sailed in with the First Fleet, in 1788, to begin white settlement in the mysterious South Land. There were blazing rows over the Opera House's design and cost - an estimated budget of $7 million grew to more than $100 million. Today, the Opera House still has many critics who claim it is too small, that its seats are too hard and parking facilities deplorable. Despite all the criticism, the Opera House is Australia's main tourist attraction and its most famous architectural symbol.

The other, less than a kilometer away, is the Harbour Bridge, which connects Sydney's north side to the south. Affectionately called the "coathanger," the main arch is made of silicon steel and the deck of carbon steel. The total weight of steel in the bridge is 52,800 tons. A staff of painters, riggers, and ironworkers are employed constantly to clean, descale and paint the steel surfaces of this bridge. For the brave, you can take the BridgeClimb. The climb begins with a briefing in BridgeClimb's training centre, where they provide a climbing suit, gloves and a harness that is linked to a static line on the catwalk. Scott and I talked about doing the BridgeClimb but decided the climb might kill me because there are so many steps.

The water was filled with sail boats and it was so relaxing watching them sail. I don't know how they keep from running into one another. The cruise was just the right length and we were able to take some awesome pictures.