Sightseeing Under Gray Skies Down Under
Australia Travelog #3
Sydney CBD - Sun, 24 Dec 2023, 1pm
We got to our hotel around 7:30 this morning. Our room wasn't ready (and wouldn't be ready for several more hours) but the cheerful front desk agent gave us keys that grant access to the club lounge (for free food) and the gym (where we could shower and change). We took the offer on the lounge and went up to the 36th floor for a while to eat... well, I guess, second breakfast. The airline had fed us some crap food around, oh, maybe 4am local time. The food in the lounge was better.
While relaxing in the lounge with non-airplane food we plotted out things we could visit today. Right near us was the Sydney Tower Eye. We could see it out the windows, and I've included a picture (above). We wouldn't do that today, though. "Let's save the aerial view of the city for a day when the weather's nice," I proposed.
What's wrong with the weather today? Well, the partly-sunny view you see in the photo is about the best we'd see all day. It got cloudier shortly after that and rained later in the day. That didn't stop us, though, from going on a self-guided tour around town on foot.
Our sightseeing began immediately as we left the Hilton. (Well, actually it began from the lounge on one of the high floors.) Directly across the street was the Queen Victoria Building. Completed in 1896 to honor Britain's Queen Victoria, it is now a shopping mall.
Hmm, did you notice that the Sydney Tower Eye is a shopping mall, too? The "Westfields" logo on it belongs to a shopping mall chain.
We walked about a mile- excuse me, 1.6km- up George Street to the Circular Quay. It's a station for a few commuter rail lines and several ferries. We stopped for a number of sights between the hotel and there but I won't detail them now as this journal would get too long.
From the harbor near Circular Quay you can see a few of Sydney's famous icons. One is the Sydney Opera House. I've included a photo I captured, above. You can see what kind of a gray day we're dealing with today. Alas we're only in Sydney for a few days so waiting out the crummy weather is not an option.
A little further north of Circular Quay is the Rock Market. That was actually kind of our main destination for the day as it's full of street vendors and Hawk was looking forward to buying some gemstones. Alas, while there are some vendors there selling actual rocks, the name "Rock Market" seems to come from something else. It's a typical street market selling lots of overpriced crap and food.
Just beyond the Rock Market was something I was interested in: a Sydney Harbor Bridge view point.
So, yeah, here's an example of the gap between a 2D representation of things, like a map, and those actual, 3D things. Sure, there's is a great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge at this (X,Y) point... if you're, say, Z = 100 meters above the ground. 🤣
From the Rock Market and the bridge under-view point we walked back to the hotel, looping around past the botanical garden, St. Mary's Cathedral, and Hyde Park. I'll write about this is another blog because (a) this one's getting long already, and (b) the hotel has just texted me that our room is ready. We've been in the same clothes for 36 hours and we're tired, too. It's time to grab showers and clean clothes... and probably a nap somewhere in between those two.
Sydney CBD - Sun, 24 Dec 2023, 1pm
We got to our hotel around 7:30 this morning. Our room wasn't ready (and wouldn't be ready for several more hours) but the cheerful front desk agent gave us keys that grant access to the club lounge (for free food) and the gym (where we could shower and change). We took the offer on the lounge and went up to the 36th floor for a while to eat... well, I guess, second breakfast. The airline had fed us some crap food around, oh, maybe 4am local time. The food in the lounge was better.
While relaxing in the lounge with non-airplane food we plotted out things we could visit today. Right near us was the Sydney Tower Eye. We could see it out the windows, and I've included a picture (above). We wouldn't do that today, though. "Let's save the aerial view of the city for a day when the weather's nice," I proposed.
What's wrong with the weather today? Well, the partly-sunny view you see in the photo is about the best we'd see all day. It got cloudier shortly after that and rained later in the day. That didn't stop us, though, from going on a self-guided tour around town on foot.
Our sightseeing began immediately as we left the Hilton. (Well, actually it began from the lounge on one of the high floors.) Directly across the street was the Queen Victoria Building. Completed in 1896 to honor Britain's Queen Victoria, it is now a shopping mall.
Hmm, did you notice that the Sydney Tower Eye is a shopping mall, too? The "Westfields" logo on it belongs to a shopping mall chain.
We walked about a mile- excuse me, 1.6km- up George Street to the Circular Quay. It's a station for a few commuter rail lines and several ferries. We stopped for a number of sights between the hotel and there but I won't detail them now as this journal would get too long.
From the harbor near Circular Quay you can see a few of Sydney's famous icons. One is the Sydney Opera House. I've included a photo I captured, above. You can see what kind of a gray day we're dealing with today. Alas we're only in Sydney for a few days so waiting out the crummy weather is not an option.
A little further north of Circular Quay is the Rock Market. That was actually kind of our main destination for the day as it's full of street vendors and Hawk was looking forward to buying some gemstones. Alas, while there are some vendors there selling actual rocks, the name "Rock Market" seems to come from something else. It's a typical street market selling lots of overpriced crap and food.
Just beyond the Rock Market was something I was interested in: a Sydney Harbor Bridge view point.
So, yeah, here's an example of the gap between a 2D representation of things, like a map, and those actual, 3D things. Sure, there's is a great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge at this (X,Y) point... if you're, say, Z = 100 meters above the ground. 🤣
From the Rock Market and the bridge under-view point we walked back to the hotel, looping around past the botanical garden, St. Mary's Cathedral, and Hyde Park. I'll write about this is another blog because (a) this one's getting long already, and (b) the hotel has just texted me that our room is ready. We've been in the same clothes for 36 hours and we're tired, too. It's time to grab showers and clean clothes... and probably a nap somewhere in between those two.