Where's Mandy and Nate: Day 5 - Tour of Sydney and Dinner with Bride/Groom

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Day 5 - Tour of Sydney and Dinner with Bride/Groom

So today we ventured into the city! We took the train into Sydney and got off at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB). The QVB was beautiful and Julia told us that a few years ago that they had talked of tearing it down but the city got such resistance from the residents that they restore it. Today it is full of art galleries, stores, and souvenir shops. We’ve posted a shot of the ladies bathroom b/c it was so cool – the “sink” was a slab of marble at a slight angle so the water could run off. It was so cool – that while I was in there a Chinese woman brought her husband in their to see it – nice! From here we walked to Sydney Tower – amazing views of the city! I highly recommend going to the top! You can see 360 degrees of the city for miles! Thank goodness we had our very knowledgeable aussie tour guides with us who could tell us what everything was! (Julia and Carolyn know so many interesting facts and information about Sydney and Australia in general – I don’t think I would be able to be as good a tour guide in the US!:) – they even had other tourists asking them questions!) After Sydney Tower we went on the Oz Trek – it is a “ride” (at the top of Sydney Tower) where your seat moves and you feel like you are “inside” the movie (they have these at places like Disney). It was cool b/c we learned a few more things about Australia and its history. From here we walked to the War Memorial at Martin Place and on to Circular Quay. Circular Quay is where the Opera House is located. Great people watching here! The Opera House is magnificent and is even more breathtaking in person than in the pictures and movies I’ve seen. It was interesting to see up close what makes it look like it “shines” – the tiles on the roof are in a diamond pattern and one is a white ceramic and the next just concrete – pretty cool effect from far away – it sparkles like diamonds! Great view of the Harbor Bridge or “Coat Hanger” as it is sometimes called here. After lots of photos, we went to The Rocks to look around – this is where the first settlers came and lived – they still have the original cobblestone streets in some parts. That was the end of our whirl wind tour of Sydney – from here we took a ferry to Woolwich to meet up with Andy and Josie for dinner with their families. We had a wonderful dinner and everyone was so nice! I’m so glad we got to hang out and meet Josie in a relaxed setting before all the festivities begin – she is fabulous! We also learned a few more aussie terms and how the word “piss” is used in like 7 different contexts. My new favorite is – “Taking the piss out of you” – the translation as best I can describe is “getting someone’s goat” – as in “Dad – stop taking the piss out of me!”

Picture outside of Queen Victoria outside the QVB (Queen Victoria Building). This is the main train station that consists of an upscale shopping mall.