The Sites you must Sight

Wednesday morning June 9th

Some Tips
When you’re at the mall in Sydney stay on the left side of the moving stairs and walkways.

Do not tip more than a couple dollars, and only tip if you think they were extra special to you.

If you take the bus, make sure you ask the driver to let you know where your stop is, since they do not announce it.

You are always the same person no matter where you go. I still miss Jordan, even here thousands of miles and months later. And I don’t really feel bad about myself for saying it or even thinking it. And even thousands of miles away you can grow closer to someone. I’m not sure how to feel about that, except butterflies. I guess I’m saying, there is confirmation that no matter where you go, you take yourself with you. A mini escape can only remove you so far from your life. But you are always you.

The Sites you must Sight.
Anna and I did the obligatory Opera House and Harbor bridge visit via walking around the Circular Quay (pronounced ‘key’) and a quick walk through the botanical gardens. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like I felt forced to do it at all, in fact I’ve wanted to get up close and personal with that big pointy building for years. It’s so pretty down there that I might have to go back before I leave. We all associate the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco, but the Opera House seems to be an even more powerful symbol for Sydney. First of all it’s quirky as heck, which fits Australia quite well. Since everything here is just a little quirky in some way. I mean they have giant hopping and boxing pouched animals hopping around. Sometimes when you get up close to something you’ve only seen in pictures, it can be quite disappointing...some hotels in Vegas are like that. But the Opera House does not disappoint, in fact you want to take so many pictures of the weird angles and pointy roofs that it’s hard to walk by it without staring at it’s magnificence. It really is amazing.

I guess when I look at the pictures I took of us standing around in front of the Harbor bridge and the Opera House it seems more real to me, that I actually stood there in front of it, finally. It was such a lovely day out, quite crisp and Anna and I must have been the only people in summery dresses. I feel like the only thing that could have made this day out more special is if Olga were there too. We miss you lovely!

Strolling through the botanical gardens past a heard of cockatoos I think was even more surreal than standing in front of the Opera House. They waddled around like ducks scraping their faces against the grass. It got even crazier when I took underneath the flock of bats hanging upside down. I really want to take one of those things home! They’re the size of house cats, with cute fox faces and wings! I’m going to have to come back during better lit hours, because frankly the only people left in the park at dusk are couples making out and bats. I’ve never felt more awkward and creeped out at the same time.

On our walk back, through the CBD at night we passed hundreds of trendy business people, vacating the buildings and heading to their respective homes. They were all bundled up in boots and lovely coats, walking with determination. The CBD is definitely that the business district, these folks are businessy. It’s bustling and I imagine this is what any city with more than just a few sky-scrapers (like in LA) bunched up together would feel like. I liked it.