Sydney Feb. 13

Friday, February 13, 2015  Sydney

The flight was uneventful if long; Delta had a problem with the entertainment system, so there was no video, no music, nothing but whatever people had brought with them.  Some families with children were not prepared to entertain them for 14 hours!  We arrived at Sydney airport at 8 AM and were at our hotel before 10:00.  Fortunately, our room was ready, and we were able to unpack, shower and wash up before going out.

We are located right at the harbor (or harbour if you wish) and the elevator to our room lets you out at the quay at its lowest level.  The harbor is bustling!  Ferries leave for multiple points, the light rail/subway has a major station there, cruise ships dock there (and a giant Carnival ship was in port), and there is a good-natured atmosphere with lots of touristy shops, many cafes, some upscale shops, and vendors and performers. 

The iconic opera house is on a small peninsula which projects out from the curve of the harbor, and it is visible from everywhere, looking different from different perspectives:

We had lunch at a lovely outdoors café in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art:

Wandering after lunch we came across this diggery-doo street performer:

Finally we went back to our hotel, took a short nap, and went to dinner at the home of Sheila and Peter Philippsohn, friends from our Melton trips.  We were picked up and brought to dinner by Susan and Michael Moses, also Melton friends.  The Philippsohn home is gorgeous, on a hill in a suburb, and Peter’s study has a view of the harbor and the opera house.  The Philippsohn’s daughters, son-in law, and three grandsons were all there too, and it was a delightful Shabbat dinner with friends.  The Philippsohns will be showing us some of Sydney on Saturday and the Moseses will escort us on Sunday.  We’re so lucky!  We join our scheduled tour group on Monday.