Sydney, Australia

DAY 1

Sailing into Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful sites you will ever see. However, I did not see it since I was still asleep.  I'll make up for that by attending the sailaway, which is at a more reasonable hour. 

This is our fourth trip to Sydney. For those of you that would like background information, please refer to my previous blogs. I do not want to be redundant and repeat the same old stuff.  My alarm clock came to life right on time -- at 6am. And this was one morning when I could actually sleep. Drat. We docked in the primo spot in Circular Key, where all the happening action is going on.  After breakfast, the entire complement of passengers had to disembark for customs. No one was allowed back on until the ship had been declared...declared, I'm not sure of why they need to do it this way, but many people who didn't want to go to shore were sitting in the lobby of the cruise ship terminal on wobbly plastic chairs waiting to get back on.  The weather was pleasant, with lots of sun and temps in the 80s. 

One of our favorite things to do in Sydney, is go to Paddy's Market and Chinatown. We have done most of the touristy things on previous trips; we talked about going to the zoo, which I understand is excellent, but my knees said no. There is no tram. So you have to walk it. I love seeing animals, but not at the current price. As it turns out, I did myself no favors today as far as stress on the knees.   Marge and Eli joined us as we headed out to the free bus that would take us up George Street (the main shopping street) to the market. 

Paddy's Market is an institution. I would call it an upscale flea market, where they sell just about anything at inexpensive prices. Naturally, I HAD to go up and down each and every aisle looking for treasures. I found some hair combs and clips, and a tote bag.  I am really going to be careful about my souvenir purchases this year as I did enough damage last year. Besides, some really good markets are coming up in future stops!  We then went to Chinatown for lunch at Emperors Garden, a dim sum restaurant, Michael's favorite.  Yum Yum, it was delicious and we enjoyed having a meal off the ship.  We then returned to the ship, and Marge and Eli went to Darling Harbor since they had never been there before and we had. I spent the rest of the afternoon icing my knees and dreading the upcoming evening.

And why would I dread the upcoming evening?  I was going to my first real opera performance at the famous Sydney Opera House.  Oh joy, whoopee [groaning].  I was also dreading the long walk, which under normal circumstances would not have been a problem.  We met Lillian and Adrian in Seabourn Square all dressed in our opera clothes – and no, we did not go formal in tuxes and gowns.  We were walking from the ship, all around the harbor to the opera house and that called for comfortable shoes.  The evening was still plenty warm and the guys shucked off their sport coats; I wanted to shuck something off, too, but there wasn’t an available layer to shuck.  We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and had the prix fixe dinner.  Michael and Lillian had a pizza, Adrian had a pasta dish, and I had fish and chips!  I know, crazy, huh?  It was good, so what can I say.  The pizza was also good.

 

This was Saturday night and the promenade around the harbor was very busy.  The ship was docked on one side of the harbor, right next to the famous Rocks area, the area where Sydney was originally settled.  Along the promenade where the ship was berthed, there were musicians playing everything from guitars to aboriginal didgeridoos.   People were dining at a restaurant right next to the ship.  At the head of the harbor are some gift shops and fast food establishments, plus the ticket booths and piers for the ferries and sight seeing boats.  On the third side of the harbor, across from the ship, there are large condo buildings with restaurants on the first and second floors with magnificent views of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  One can see people climbing along the top of the bridge, all for the paltry sum of around $250 each.

 

There was an outdoor concert on the steps of the Opera House, and a second concert going on inside in addition to the opera.  Throngs of people were moving about, and those that weren’t moving were eating or drinking.  There must have been several thousand people out and about. We finally reached the Opera House, and located our seats.  They were very nice, third row from the back but on the lower level center.  I could read the display board that would tell you in English what was happening on stage. The opera was Michael’s favorite, Carmen.  He told me this was the most unopera opera for a beginner and that I would like it.  And here’s my assessment of the performance: there were two catchy tunes that we have all heard before (The Toreador Song and The Habanera), and they were wonderful.  It was quite a spectacle, with lots of actors and even a horse.  And it was toooo long.  I couldn’t wait for intermission.  My leg was hurting so bad that I popped a pain pill, but could not sit still as I was trying to find a position that would relieve the pain.  I do admit that the pain colored by perception of the opera, but not by much.  I tried it; I didn’t really care for it.  It was not my cup of tea. Michael and Lillian said it was wonderful and really thought the actors were marvelous.  So to each his own. 

 

We strolled back to the ship around 11pm and the promenades were jammed full of people.  The bars and restaurants were still packed.  It was a lovely night, but a tiring day, so it was time to hit the sack.

 

DAY 2

 

I decided to stay on board the ship today.  My knee was killing me.  I had walked almost 4 miles yesterday and figured, if you play you pay.  Today was payday.  Michael decided to go to the botanical gardens.  They were located behind the Opera House, so it was another long walk just to get there, and then the walk through the gardens.   I thought pictures would be just fine for me.

 

So while Michael was off the ship, I decided to do laundry. Now laundry on the ship is an art, the art of when to get as many machines as you can at one time so you can get all the laundry done at once.  When folks are off the ship on tours is a good time, so off I went to deck 5.  There is a laundry room on both the starboard side and the port side. Each has two washers and dryers for a total of four machines.  The machines are not very large, so if you have accumulated a lot of laundry, you need a lot of machines. Well lucky me, there were four available.  The laundry was washed, dried and put away by 11am, so that gave me free time to lay out on the pool deck reading and surfing the net, and giving iPad lessons. 

 

One of the spa staff was on the pool deck with a massage chair that was empty.  I inquired and found that they were giving a complementary 10 minute chair massage.  I am not one to turn down a complementary massage, and mentioned my aching knee.  He suggested I see the acupuncturist, and took me up to the spa to get a complementary evaluation.  Hum, not bad so far.  I gave him the history about my knee, and he said he had had much success helping people like me.  I had nothing to lose, so I agreed to an appointment that day.  He did a lot of deep massage on the knee and leg, and then put in the needles.  I swear I did not feel them go in.  I felt a touch, and that was all.  I laid there for 20 minutes with the needles in and almost fell asleep.  He did say that my leg muscles felt like ”concrete.”   I am going to see him for a few more sessions and hope like hell he can at least keep the pain to a minimum. 

 

Michael returned from his journey to the gardens all worn out.  

He wanted to go to the Rocks to walk around, but I suggested he was crazy as he did a hell of a lot of walking the past two days and even his knees hurt.  He actually listened to me, and we both we went in the pool and hottub (this was medicinal for me).

 

It was then time for the sailaway party.  It was such a beautiful evening.  The crew was serving caviar and champagne, and the band played some lively tunes.  

    Circular Quay as we departed

We hosted a dinner table, but the best part of the evening was the entertainment.  This was something just up my alley:  a Beatles show, celebrating 50 years since they were first on American TV on the Ed Sullivan Show.  These guys had the place rockin’ and we did not want them to stop playing. They were faithful to the original Fab 5.  They used instruments identical to those used by the real Beatles, and have all of their clothes made by the Beatles own tailor. They have another show scheduled in a few days!!!