Sydney Wednesday 19th February

Posted byvwhitesidePosted inUncategorized

Our last day in Australia. We planned an easy day before our Sydney Opera House outing.

First stop, an optician to try to get Patricia’s glasses mended. She laid them on her suitcase while packing, then exerted pressure to close the case forgetting they were there. They were usable but fell off every time she leaned forward.
Hanging around at Specsavers .
Next we needed a new screen protector for my phone, the existing one was cracked and crumbling.
Coconut water is a very big thing here.
Google maps is pretty poor at guiding through multilevel shopping centres.
This lovely young man finished his lunch early to lead us to the bridge over the highway.

The two combined shopping plazas were mixed indoor and outdoor areas all squashed in higgledy-piggledy between high rise office blocks. The area was thronged with young professionals on lunch breaks. These 3 photos are of the eating areas within the plazas in the sun and shade.

We enjoyed coffees and cakes here for our lunch.
Navigation remained a problem and Patricia got a bit weary. I left her sitting while I got the new screen protector.
I left her contemplating North Sydney Post Office.
Back in the hotel we did our packing.
And got ready for our night out.
We went by taxi with Michelle and Ian.
The VIP tour was great.
The Danish architect Jorn Utzon won the competition to design the building in 1957.
It took 16 years to build at 20 times the original 6 million dollar budget amid much controversy.
Jorn Utzon was dismissed when there was a change in government.
The curved sections of the roof are parts of a sphere.
They are covered with over one and a half million Swedish ceramic tiles in cream and white.
The Utzon Le Corbusier Tapestry
Jorn Utzon commissioned this tapestry from his mentor Le Corbusier in 1958, shortly after winning the competition. It spent more than 50 years in the Utzon household before being bought by the Opera House in 2015. It now hangs in the foyer.
Our meal in the Bennelong Restaurant was superb. This is confit of duck with blueberries.
It came with these accompanying wines. One just for you Tom.
We had a gorgeous view over the bay
We had barely finished when it was time to go to the Joan Sutherland theatre for the David McVicar ( a Scotsman!) production of Don Giovanni.
With Michelle and Ian on the outside terrace during the interval.

The theatre and production were excellent. We had brilliant seats and the whole experience was wonderful. We managed to get a taxi back to the hotel at half past ten without much difficulty.

It was an excellent finale to our stay in Australia.

Our wake up call tomorrow is at 0515 in the morning. Goodnight.

PS. The two, left behind, swimsuits were delivered to our room before we left our Sydney hotel. Well done Alex.

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