Happy New Years Eve!
I think it was day three that Sarah and I really began to notice some of the culture phenomenon of Australia. For instance, can you think of a city where you frequently see people walking around without shoes? Daytime, nighttime, and its not like they are girls carrying high heels. Its just people walking around in bare feet. Gross!
Also, in case you were interested, mosquitos are called "mozzies". Read on to find our most shocking realization of the day...
Sarah and I began our day with a guided tour of the Opera House which w
as very educational. I didn't realize it was built so recently and took so long to finalize a design and a budget. After the tour we decided to go ahead and book a show for January 8th when we would be back in town.
We started the afternoon at the Museum of Sydney which continued our education of Sydney, from its foundation and settlement to the construction of its Harbour Bridge and Opera House landmarks. Sydney's settlement mimicked American settlement in the sense that the
settlers pushed out natives and established new cultures and a civilization.
Before getting ready for the evening, we stopped in the Chinese Gardens for a cupcake and pot of tea and a quick game of dress up!
We got sucked into this tourist trap, but it was fun trying on the costumes and posing in the gardens for a little while.
When we got back to the hotel we found a free bottle of Champagne and strawberries in our fridge. We decided to have a little celebration in our room and then made our way down the street to Oporto, a fast food place recommended to us by several friends. Now to the big shocker of the day...
The realization that a burger in Australia is simply meat between bread. The sign outfront of Oporto said "Burgers and Chicken" so when it w
as my turn to order, I looked up at the value menu and everything looked like chicken. So I kindly asked "Where's the Beef".
Unsure if the man behind the counter recognized my obscure reference to the old Wendy's commercial, I said again "is this ALL CHICKEN!!!". With his confirmation in hand, and hungry patrons in line behind us, I quickly blurted out "We'll take two number 1 meals, one diet coke, one regular
coke..Thanks!"
We made our way to Circular Quay by way of the double decker
subway followed by a long walk and found an amazing spot right between the Bridge and the O
pera House, with perfect views of the Opera House.
After the 9am "kid" fireworks families started leaving so we got an even better spot. We sat down for a couple hours and then the real show started at 11:30 when crowds got bigger and rowdier! The fireworks were absolutely amazing - and came from 8 or so areas throughout the harbour as well as on top of buildings behind us and on the bridge. In total, the midnight show was about $5 million dollars!
We decided not to go out, but began our long walk home and made it back around 1:30, very tired!! It was fun to be the first to celebrate knowing that it was 8AM Dec 31st in Atlanta when we brought in the new year!
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!
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