After collecting our baggage and clearing immigration, we grabbed a taxi to our Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The ride took 20 minutes and surprisingly, our hotel room was available for a 9:30am check-in. This provided us with time to shower and change from cold weather Northern California weather jeans and sweaters to shorts, given the mid-70s Sydney weather.
Exiting the hotel, we walked down George Street towards Circular Quay. Along the way, we stopped at the food court in the downtown Sydney Westfield Mall. From a couple of blogs I read before this trip, I heard that the Westfield's fifth floor food court was like no other mall food court. This was quickly confirmed as we wandered around the floor.
The food court was filled with high quality counter restaurants offering unique meals, desserts, bakery goods, pasta, fruit and wine. Not a single Cinnabon, Szbarro Pizza or Panda Express type offering. Instead we saw offerings of grilled meat, poultry and seafood, pasta, a Chinese dumpling bar, Vietnamese and Thai food and vegan selections among several choices. The dim lighting of the area was unlike the harsh bright lights of most food courts. Although it was early for lunch, we had a serving of fresh seasonal fruit (its summer here) from one vendor and visited another to purchase several small (maybe 4 inches round) handmade pies - a squash and vegetable pie, chicken-cranberry-Camembert pie and a Peking Duck pie. Later we stopped by the mall again for some macaroons, gelato and a glass of wine for a late afternoon snack. The prices were moderate and well worth the visit.
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| ©2013, R. Ono |
During our walk through Sydney, we took a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House and learned about the 16 year construction effort and the seven halls within the complex. On our walk back to the hotel, we toured the botanical gardens. We also picked up tickets to watch 2001 A Space Odyssey in the main theater of the Opera House with music played by the Sydney Orchestra.
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| ©2013, R. Ono |
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| ©2013, R. Ono |
We'll likely have an early dinner tonight and plan for an early bedtime to adjust to the time difference.
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