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Published: April 1st 2014
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Today is “April Fool’s Day”, but this is no joke – we went to tour the Sydney Opera House today.
After today we have a fairly energetic schedule remaining, so we chose to sleep in to keep our agenda today fairly straight forward without too many extra side-trips. So we did not get up until about 8:30. We then went down to the Concierge and found out how to use the local transit services to get around town. There is a subway station directly across the street which would take us where we wanted to go, but there is also a free shuttle service along George Street (from 9:30-3:30) which also went where we wanted to go.
We caught the 9:30 shuttle immediately behind the hotel and rode down to Circular Quay. This is the area where cruise ships used to dock, and one ship a day still does. The Sun Princess docked every time across the harbor, so those ships which were lucky enough to dock at the quay are able to discharge their passengers in the middle of interesting activities. Anyway, there was a Holland America ship there yesterday (Oosterdam) and a Royal
Caribbean ship (Radiance of the Seas) today.
We knew of a Starbucks down there, so we went there for breakfast. We then wandered around the quay over to the Sydney Opera House. It is located on the tip of Bennelong Point, which extends out into the bay beyond the Botanical Garden. We walked slowly and admired the sights along the way. There are bronze markers along the sidewalk showing where the shoreline had been in 1788. There are a second set of markers showing a different shoreline in 1844. Today they have extended the shore even further into the water, making more walking space along the edge. There are also a series of bronze plaques in the sidewalk (sort of a walk of fame) with various people, including Rudyard Kipling and Charles Darwin amongst others. It is a celebration of famous Australian writers and those who inspired them.
We walked on to the Opera House and strolled around the outside. It was kind of hot so we kept a slow pace and stuck to the shade when we could. But the Opera House is located in an extremely prominent location with incredible views of
the city. From there we were able to observe the progress of people doing the “bridge climb” over the top of Harbor Bridge. That is something which is NOT on our plan, although there did appear to be a bunch of people doing it.
Janet wanted to attend an opera in the Opera House, but they are not performing one today. There is a variation of a puppet show tonight which is rated as being kind of risqué, but that wasn’t what she had in mind. They do offer walk-thru tours of the facility about every 15 minutes, but there was a special tour at Noon for people who cannot do a lot of stairs. We were able to get the final 2 tickets for this tour, or else Janet probably could not have climbed all the stairs in the regular tour - we were told it requires about 300 stair steps. So we got a snack and waited about 45 minutes before we could go for our tour.
About the first thing we saw was a video which explained how the design was selected and what some of the building challenges were. The
original design (by Jorn Utzon) had been rejected by the selection committee, but a late arriving judge (who was the guy who designed the Gateway Arch in St Louis) reviewed all the proposals and convinced his peers that this was the right choice. The project had originally been estimated as needing 3 years and $7M, but it actually took 16 years and $102M. Before the project was completed, political pressure had forced the chief designer to step down, but eventually the facility was completed. There is four times as much steel in the Opera House as there is in the whole Harbor Bridge. Anyway, the construction story was fascinating. Even at this time, they are still adjusting the design with a road being tunneled under the building so trucks can drive under it to deliver scenery and related items for shows.
The Opera House actually has 5 main venues. We started out at the “Stage Door” and saw back stage where the trucks currently bring in the scenery and various production items for each show. This is away from the normal tours and certainly out of sight from show patrons. But it gave us elevator access to
other areas. So we started on the lower level and saw three smaller theaters, The Playhouse, The Studio and The Drama Room. The Studio was being used for a rehearsal and the Playhouse could not accommodate a wheelchair, so we went in the third theater.
The Drama Room has a capacity of about 550 people and is used for various shows, but its stage is not large enough for the opera or ballet troops. Jorn Utzon (the designer) was Danish and much of the interior design reflects a distinct Scandinavian style. Photography was strictly forbidden inside any of the show rooms or back stage, but we did have access in the lobby or outside. For that reason, David could not take pictures of the seats, but they are fairly straight back and very square shaped in the back (definite Danish style). Surprisingly, the seats themselves have been designated as Heritage protected items. That means the style and appearance of each chair has to remain unchanged, although they have reupholstered the seats over the years. The seats were actually more comfortable than they appeared on first sight.
Our guide (Elizabeth) explained that operas are performed
for 8 months a year (but up to 4 different operas per week) and ballets are performed for extended periods for a total of 4 months a year. That’s why the 5 theaters stay very busy. In total there are about 1600 performance of one type or another each year. For example, Apr 3-5, the Sydney Symphony is going to play the music while the movie Gladiator is being projected on a large screen on the main theater. They were in the middle of rehearsal for a ballet in the other large theater. We did not get to see a view from the balcony (accessible only by climbing a lot of steps), but those tours did not include the backstage area – win some lose some.
At the end of the tour, we were able to go up to the lobby using the elevator, or we would have had to climb about 40 stairs. This gave us access to the gift shop, café, box office, etc. We also went out on the front deck to a bronze figure (called the Spherical Solution) which demonstrated how the sweeping arcs were eventually designed. The original plan had been to make forms and pour cement in position to form the structure, but the engineering problems could not be resolved in those days. Eventually the solution was to build individual sections and assemble them to produce the stylistic structure. The outside is then covered in ceramic tiles and much of the inside is lined with wooden timbers. Altogether it was a very impressive tour.
We walked back to the quay and got a little lunch in a local sidewalk café. We then went to some shops and looked for presents and souvenirs. By the time we were through, it was nearly 3:00. We caught the shuttle to ride back to the area around our hotel (it was completely full that time of day). We got back to the room about 3:15 and it was time to stretch out and relax for a while. Janet was VERY grateful not to have had to walk back from the quay to the hotel. All the walking has been hard on her knee again, but so far she has only been using the Aleve – maybe a “magic pill” tonight though.
We stayed in the room until about 6:30. The Concierge had recommended a nearby restaurant called Barramundi, which is primarily a seafood grill and bar. We both ordered the Fish & Chips, but the plate was so large that we could have gotten one order and split it. The salad was made out of some kind of lettuce which David says is the reason for Weed-B-Gone (if that grew in his yard he’s try to kill it instead of picking it). But the fish was good and the chips were classical French Fries. Anyway, we got plenty to satisfy our hunger and we made our way back to the room for the evening.
Tomorrow we have an early departure on another excursion, so this evening will be for resting and getting ready. Watch for another
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