Our Favorite Restaurant

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The weather cooperated today and we spent a fair bit of time out of doors. This morning we walked to the State Library of New South Wales and enjoyed looking at their exhibit of paintings of flora and fauna of the Sydney area done by the original colonists - both convicts and freemen. (See photo) Then we walked across the road to the Royal Botanic Gardens with its lush growth of exotic trees and other plants. There are also animals, including sulfur-crested cockatoos (See photo) and some kind of rail (coot?, gallinule? moorhen?) (See photo). Our primary purpose in visiting the gardens was to eat lunch at our favorite Sydney restaurant. The Garden Restaurant is probably our favorite restaurant in the world, actually. It is open to the air and surrounded by big trees. On hot days, a cool breeze blows through to keep us cool. We got a great table right on the railing overlooking a small pond. (See photo) The menu is limited, but everything is prepared beautifully and that included Maggie's sirloin and my duck. (See photo) We had Australian wine to complement the food and then a fabulous chocolate mousse concoction for dessert. (Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture of that. I was too busy eating it!) After lunch Maggie and I sought out a bench in the gardens where we used to sit during past visits. (See photo) Sixteen years ago we buried a coin beside that bench and eight years ago we dug it up again. It now sits proudly in the Sydney scrapbook we have at home. Before we left town eight years ago, we buried another coin in the same spot and we hoped to find it this year, but alas it wasn't there. It looks to us like a new bench has been installed and I'm sure the grounds crew has to do that occasionally because of weathering. We were disappointed, but we buried another coin there today that we will hope to check on at some future date. We walked through the gardens to the waterfront, past the opera house and onto to Circular Quay wheee we decided to take a harbor cruise. This is easy to do in Sydney because the ferry system covers most of the harbor. We hopped on a ferry and the sat back to enjoy the ride as it went through its round trip before depositing us back at Circular Quay. Altogether it was a very nice day in Sydney.

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Comments

[Lisa Morris]

Looks yummy!
Jack and I have been following your blog and enjoying all the pictures! Your meal at the "Garden Restaurant" looks wonderful and made me think of having "duck" for dinner tonight!