Weekend in Sydney

After the, as it turns out, somewhat busy first few days here, we decided to take it easy on Sunday and Monday. So we thought we'd head out for breakfast and then stroll down George St. to the Queen Victoria Building, a large shopping mall in the Central Business District. We hadn't been there for a while and it seemed a good, but not over-taxing, walk.

We had seen that the Lowenbrau was open for breakfast and had had a chance to look over the menu, so that's where we started out.

Monica's German breakfast - cheese, ham,
hard boiled egg

Larry chose scrambled eggs with
pork hock

Coincidentally, the restaurant is at Argyle St. only one block away from what is basically the end of George St., so we just set out southward. Once past Bridge St., which is basically the border between the Rocks and the CBD, the street started to look like any other main street in any other big city - restaurants, shops, banks, more shops (all the big names show up eventually)...and after about a half hour we reached the Queen Victoria Building. The building is very pretty and obviously of Victorian architecture, with stained glass windows and a large dome on top. The interior is quite beautiful and boasts, among other things, a moving clock that shows scenes from Australia's history, a display of the Victoria Cross medal of bravery along with the names of all the recipients from Gallipoli to Afghanistan, and a time capsule that Queen Elizabeth has dedicated and directed to be opened in 2085. Here are a few photos from the inside:

Glass roof, wrought iron railings and
4 levels of shops

Stained glass windows

Dome and a staircase to nowhere?

The moving clock. There's a little ship that
sails past the blue bays once
every minute.

  

On our way back to the hotel, we decided to take a slightly different route that would lead us to Darling Harbour and then along Kent St. back into the Rocks so we could find the restaurant where we had made a dinner reservation, Fish at the Rocks. So once again we put lots and lots of steps on our Fitbits! Here's the route for today:

Our route - The purple is Sunday's walk, the green is
Monday.

After taking a little time to relax and work on the blog, we walked about 10 minutes to get to the restaurant. It is in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Sydney, in an old house on a corner. It seems that there is some controversy about development here, as many of the old houses are draped with signs saying that they won't sell off Sydney history.

  Dinner was quite delicious! We had hoped to be able to get some rock lobster, but the price was beyond ridiculous - $180 for a 2 lb lobster - so we settled for fish instead. Apparently the demand is way up and the supply is quite restricted. Our waitress told us that the average price is $30 per 100 grams, completely unbelievable when we consider what maritime lobster costs at home. We can wait...

Local oysters

Mussels in tomato broth

Larry has been converted to
Barramundi! Anything as long
as it comes with chips!

Monica tried whole panfried John Dory. Firm and
buttery tasting

THE Australian special dessert - Pavolva - a baked
meringue shell filled with whipped cream
and fruit. Delicious and light!

Monday was Australia Day! The Aussies are just as proud and patriotic as the Americans, but they do everything with more class and less hype. Everybody was walking around with Australian flags, hats, t-shirts and whatever else they could find with the Australian theme. There were so many things going on that we picked up a little schedule of events from the concierge desk so we could plan our day. We were disappointed in one thing, though. The main fireworks display was at Darling Harbour, not from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and we figured that Darling Harbour would be very busy as a result. But there was a silver lining - P&O Cruise Line would have 3 of their ships anchored in the harbour at the same time and were planning a fireworks display for their passengers -- and we would be able to see it from our window!

The only problem with the day was that it dawned overcast and drizzly, and the forecast wasn't showing any signs of improvement. We went back to Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast, and thought we'd stroll around Circular Quay to find a good spot to watch, since a lot of the day's events were centred there. On top of all that, the HMAS Canberra had moved from its mooring over at the naval base to just in front of the bridge to accept the Noon salute for Australia Day. Our eventual vantage point was one that we had found on our first day's walk - a covered area on the overpass above Circular Quay. We, and a few other people, got a good view of the activities. We were hoping that some of the planned aerial flybys would still take place, but with the clouds as low as they were, only the military helicopters came out do to their thing. Here are some photos of the day:

The two tugs in the back are doing a 'ballet'

Crew on the deck of the Canberra watching the
helicopters fly by

The Turtle - official mascot and leader of the boat parade

By this point we were looking forward to having some beef for dinner, after so much fish, but many restaurants we originally thought of were closed for the holiday. The concierge suggested going to Woollomolloo Wharf, and we immediately hit upon Kingsley's Steak and Seafood. We had been there 11 years ago on our first visit and had planned to get back there again. It was just as yummy as we remembered.

Monica's flat iron steak and
bowl of mashed potato

T-bone steak and fries

The other specialty dessert - Cafe Affogato
Ice cream with a shot of Espresso and Frangelico
Mom would like this one!

We got back early enough (the Aussies really don't like to linger over a meal...) to watch the P&O fireworks. Here's a little video of the spectacle:

We'd have to see what Tuesday would be like - the forecast had called for even more clouds and heavier rain. We just might be forced to take it easy on our last day, after all...