Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Settling into Sydney

The zoo was beautiful- just as I remembered. The weather was not nearly as gorgeous as my last trip, but the overcast skies made it cooler. If you look at the photos, you can see the city skyline behind the animals. So impressive. I took pictures of the snakes for Jonny who has a few of his own. We especially enjoyed the Australian animals- the koalas, kangaroos and others.

We are busy staying close to the tv to watch the reports of the horrible fires in California. For all our friends and family nearby- our thoughts are with you. We have heard that the Chopra Center is closed and many of our San Diego friends have been evacuated. We aren’t sure about our former home in Malibu, but once again we are happy to no longer own that home and the vulnerability it had to the weather.

We have been working out at the neighborhood Golds Gym around the corner from our hotel. Just as expensive as everywhere else in Sydney- we have a discounted neighborhood hotel rate of $12 per day to work out (that is each!). We have been there every other day where we feel quite welcomed by the American men that run it. Marc and Steve are quite welcoming and offer us a cappuccino at the end of each work-out as a gift. Marc has been very generous with ideas of places to eat and visit, and we have found commonality in the fact that both of us are graduates of both Cornell and USC.

Last night we took the ferry across the harbor to Darling harbor and Star City where we saw the Sydney performance of Miss Saigon. I had purchased the tickets before we left on this trip. We have seen performances of concerts and plays when we visit new cities and always enjoy the night out. The Lyric theater in Sydney is beautiful and we loved watching the orchestra from our front row seat. It was particularly nice to be able to go out on the town without dressing up- everything goes in Sydney!

Today we walked down to Chinatown for lunch which was wonderful. Our restaurant was quite popular, with room for several hundred people all full. One entire wall of the place was taken up with aquariums full of fish and shellfish where you could select your meal while it was alive. Mike is not a seafood lover even when he hasn’t seen it alive, so we decided to stick with a meal that we didn’t need to apologize to before digging in.

The weatherman anticipates rain this afternoon although it has not begun yet. We are in our room watching the news, working on the internet and thinking of all of you.

Bye for now,
Deanne

2 comments:

Susie "K" said...

Hi there! Yeah, David was evacuated at 3:00 am Tuesday morning by a knock on the door from the National Guard. The fire is about 3 miles from him home and he was watching the flames from his brand new balcony! When I spoke with him yesterday he had managed to get back home ~ even though the barricades were still up. Apparently he didn't feel that his life was in peril and felt that with the winds dying down and the ocean breeze returning ~ he would be okay. I trust that is still the case since I haven't heard further word. To end the nightmare I heard this am that they experienced a 4.5 earthquake early this am - not their week in CA!! As far as I know everyone else in the family is not in any danger. At any rate ~ have fun in Sydney and ENJOY! Love ya, me

WanderingGypsies said...

thanks for the update, Sue. We have been watching the news in horror. The Australians lead the news every day with the fires. It seems they are focused on the American tragedies. We saw a special briefing on the difference between the Katrina Superdome vs. the Charger stadium as rescue operations. It is hard to imagine us showing that kind of detail about an Australian catastrophe. I sure am glad David's house is okay after all the work he put in to build it. Love you,
Deanne