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Published: February 6th 2013
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Ah Sydney. The photos don't represent well our time in Sydney because I was too busy having a good time to be taking photographs. By random happenstance (happy-stance?) we found an affordable room at the Haven Inn off of Glebe Point Road, which was a good start to our time there. It is conveniently located on a quiet road with numerous great restaurants and easy bus transport to the major sites. Wooden floors, balcony, tv with dvd library in the lobby, it's a great hotel.
Our first day we targeted all the big city sites: Fish Markets, Opera House, Harbour Bridge. Though we arrived at the Markets mid morning, there were already people partaking of the sea's bounty. As a vegetarian, I found little to get excited about, as the fruit and veggie market, while brimming with colorful plump offerings, was also rather steeply priced. Onto the Opera House. My friend asked how many tiles? If you buy something from the gift shop the bag will tell you, roughly a million. The modern curves of the building are a perfect backdrop for a fashion shoot, and we pause to watch a leggy Asian blonde pose in colorful flowy dresses. Towards
the Harbour Bridge there are cafes and restaurants on the side of the Opera House as well as waterside seating. With the sun shining and the jazz playing, it was a happy place to be.
On the west side of the Harbour Bridge is the Rocks district, the old part of town, where some of the streets still have the old buildings made from sandstone. There we visit the Lord Nelson Hotel. Hotel in Australia doesn't just mean a place to sleep, it's often a pub. The Lord Nelson serves some pretty tasty house brewed beers and pub grub.
A great view of the Opera House can be had from the Harbour Bridge. One side is for cyclists, the other for pedestrians. There's nothing like looking down to make you realize you might be a little afraid of heights.
South of the Opera House is the Botanic Gardens, and there are some wonderfully knarled old trees. Even one is perfect for climbing on, even wearing a skirt. We wander past the lotus pond, the wishing tree (we interpreted walking backwards to mean walking the other direction ;-) ) some succulents, and ended up at the free open
air concert for the Sydney Festival. We have good company, chat about climate economics and doom, drink and spill white wine, eat crappy pizza, and have an allround great time.
One day we spent at Bondi Beach. There is a wide strip of soft white sandy beach, so even though it was already crowded it was easy to stake our territory. The umbrella and chair rentals make staying 4 hours at the beach a breeze. We took turns frolicking in the strong waves and basked in the reflected glow under the umbrella.
Our other notable activity was shopping on King St in Newtown. It's a great street with fun funky shops and numerous restaurants - even a chinese veg place, I was in heaven.
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