Sydney - Last Day, Part Two

Hello, 

We are finally getting around to this last post!  Lots happening here at home since we returned. But here's the remainder of our final day in Sydney...

After a nice lunch at the wharf in Manly Beach, we rode the ferry back to the wharf in downtown Sydney.  The lovely Royal Botanical Gardens are situated on the shores of Sydney Harbor, along the wharf and immediately behind the Opera House.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to stroll the grounds. 

The Royal Botanical Gardens were founded in 1816 as a means of studying and collecting an incredibly vast array of plants, ornate trees and flowering shrubs.    Admission is free, the grounds are breathtakingly beautiful, and there are fantastic views of the harbor area and bridge.  A must-see if you visit this area. 

We spent two hours walking the gardens.   Although they are situated right in the heart of downtown Sydney, you feel as if you have entered another world.  It was very peaceful and quiet. 

One last thing we had wanted to do in Sydney was to "walk the bridge."  We had heard people on the cruise ship discussing this, and we thought it meant that you just walk on the pedestrian lane of the bridge.  Not even close!  You can actually walk UP THE ARCHES OF THE BRIDGE!!!!  It is called "Bridgeclimb."  Yikes. Definitely NOT for the faint of heart!  

When I (Karen) was a kid, my Dad told my sister and I to close our eyes whenever we approached a bridge. He said we were going OVER the arches, and we fully believed him. We are both deathly afraid of bridges to this day!  When David suggested that we do Bridgeclimb, I had a big lump in my throat, but I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to face my fear. So I agreed. 

It isn't a small bridge either!

As it turned out, we didn't have enough time to fit in the climb before our evening activities. WHAT A SHAME. :)))  Maybe next trip!

We walked back to our hotel to dress for the evening, as we had purchased tickets for a concert at the Opera House!  It was to be a Rachmaninov and Shostakovich concert.  As our last night in Sydney, this seemed like a lovely and fitting way to say good-bye to the city.  Our hotel was just a few short blocks from the Opera House, so we walked on a very pleasant, late spring evening. To add to the experience, there are an endless supply of quaint little cafés and restaurants lining the wharf as you walk toward the Opera House. We had no time to stop and partake, so we kept on walking. We did however stop on the way home!

If you don't live on Earth, you might not know about this place. :). If you do, then a performance there is a MUST.  Or at least a tour, which they seem to do non-stop.  The Sydney Opera House is a truly breathtaking structure.  Who knows how many thousands and thousands of tiles were used in this gorgeous roof. Ok, someone knows, I guess. A real Wonder of the Modern World. Legend has it that when the Danish architect Jorn Utzon entered the 1957 design competition for the commission, his sketches depicting a sail-like structure didn't even make the first cut. A Finlander on the committee supposedly fished them out of the trash can and arbitrarily declared him the winner. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. And in addition to opera, the venue offers theatre, dance, and many forms of musical concerts. 

We found our seats in the nosebleed section, ascending the gazillion steps to reach them. Here is the view that awaited us when we sat down. (Let me David, add a little note here. We bought the best tickets that were available on the date we purchased them. And we bought them months in advance. And we still ended up in the nose bleed section. So, if you ever want to go there, but your tickets early!)

What a lovely interior it has!  I was anxious to determine for myself whether all that we had heard about its terrible acoustics were true or not.  Evidently, there are a few conductors who summarily boycott the locale because the sound doesn't travel well. And music insiders site it as the worst of the major concert halls in terms of acoustics. 

We're no experts, but we found it to be perfectly satisfactory. The lovely sounds filled that beautiful auditorium. It was a great performance by the London  Symphony, featuring a Russian guest pianist. Quite a memorable evening!

As we walked back to our hotel after the performance, we snapped a photo of the city skyline to remember it by. 

Good night everyone!  We're headed home in the morning. See you all next trip!

With love,

Karen and David