2013 Travel Dispatch # 9 (Sydney, AU)

We have landed in OZ. Pretty much all of yesterday was spent on trains or in airports. And I think you all pretty much know how exciting that is. If there is anything remarkable about it at all it's how homogenous airports are throughout the world -- at least the bigger international ones. Yesterday we flew form Osaka to Guangzhou, China and then on to Sydney. Aside from a few language issues and some variations in food choices, we could just as well have been at JFK, Logan or O'Hare. Didn't get many picture during that day and those I did get aren't worth sharing.

But I do want to back up for just a moment to include a picture from our last night in Japan. This is from where we had dinner before spending the night in the same hotel we spent our first night in Japan in. (The hotel was great because it had all the amenities to include an in-room washer and dryer so we could arrive in Australia with all clean clothes.)

This is for the cat lovers in the crowd, and I know who you are. The cafe we ate at (katsu don again) had a definite theme. All the dishware and the waiter's shirts had little kitty faces. The bowl above came filled with edema-me-- and don't miss the one on the glass.

OK. So we're now in Sydney after another long flight, but not nearly as long as the flight from JFK to Hong Kong, it's morning and we catch a shuttle to our quaint little hotel right in the harbor district.

This is a stone staircase at the end of the alleyway right outside the entrance to the hotel. I have no idea who the subject is, but it's a fascinating piece of public art.

Our first stop after dropping things at the hotel was to find food, remember who I'm traveling with. Right across the way and just behind the Opera House was this lovely little Oyster Bar. How can you say "no" to that? So we didn't.

And after lunch, well during lunch actually, there was that fantastic sculpture that is a building. Can't wait to see it from some different angles, but I don't think it's going to make it any better or worse. It works from any angle.

It being Sunday, there was a street fair/market going on in this part of town and there were a number of musicians and other artists plying their trade. Here is a gentleman who was doing a pastel creation on a large canvas. There was also a mime doing Charlie Chaplin and a group of aboriginal performers didgeridooing.

Noticed this outside a pub on the way from the harbor area to the market. Considering the given attribution for the quote, I couldn't pass it up. The old fellow on the right would have been hard to pass up too.

A dozen shared oysters don't really make for much of a lunch. So we had to find a way to supplement. T & D shouldn't be at all surprised what kind of supplement it turned out to be. It was really good too. But I actually passed up some gelato.

Another interesting piece of public art. The sculpture ain't half bad either.

Now I found this one amazing. This is an artist holding up one of his creations. They range quite a bit in style, but tend toward somewhat of a Star Wars feeling. Anyway, he works with spray paint and makes the creation of each piece a performance. He has some music playing, actually tends to move and make strokes in time with the music, and takes about ten to twelve minutes to do a piece -- all with spray paint, newspaper and a few objects he places on the paper to define shapes. He doesn't allow pictures to be taken of him making the pieces, but I asked him if I could just get a shot of him and he readily agreed and insisted that we do it so the Australian flag would be in the shot. Ah, the many faces of creativity.

What have we seen the most of in Australia so far? That may be Pubs. Remembering that this country's origins are English, that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Maybe it's just the neighborhood we're in, but you never have to look far for a pub.

We got invited out to dinner tonight by friends of friends. Didn't get any pictures, but it was a delightful dinner and they were wonderful, fun people. We are looking forward to seeing them again.

Photography by Burdette