1 Trip 2 Takes: October 7 - Arrival in Sydney

Let me start by saying, Blaise is sleeping and I don't have the heart to wake him up write about today. So I'll have him write about it tomorrow and post it when I can. We get on the ship tomorrow and I don't know how good our internet connections will be. So posting may be spotty but we will do our best.

Ami Says . . .

It is the end of our first day in Australia and I am exhausted. I haven’t slept much really since July but it has increasingly gotten worse since Kaylene passed away the end of August. Add to that nearly 24 hours on a plane and it is a bit much. I hope this vacation relaxes me enough I am sleeping better soon.

With that said, our plane arrived from Tokyo at 7 this morning. It is 8:30 PM now. We got to the hotel around 8:30 AM and of course there was no way our room was ready. But we were able to leave our bags and they said they would text when the room was available.

So we headed out. The hotel, the Shangri-La, is centrally located. We are two blocks from the stairs to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We walked across the bridge, taking several pictures along the way. You can pay to climb the thing but I was perfectly fine just walking across it. On they way back across the bridge, we saw those nutty people climbing up with their harnesses.

Once to the other side of the bridge, we hunted for a restaurant recommended in one of the books we bought. After Blaise asked a very helpful shop owner where we could find Ripples, the restaurant, we were finally eating a meal with a great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House. Other than the hotel clerk, that was our first real interaction with a real live Aussie in his natural habitat and it was quite pleasant, according to Blaise.(I just stood outside waiting, oogling at the pictures of homemade tasty ice cream treats sold at the same shop. I’m still thinking about those damn ice cream sandwiches.) The guy was so concerned he was steering Blaise wrong or thought Blaise might think he was giving the wrong directions, he pulled out Google Maps to show Blaise.

By the time we made it back to the hotel to check my text messages via their free Wi-Fi, our room was ready. We FINALLY showered and laid down for a nap around 12:15. Ended up sleeping about 5 hours.

Went to dinner in The Rocks area of Sydney, also within walking distance of the hotel. All thanks to my exceptional hotel-selecting skills. You’re welcome, Blaise.

Blaise wanted to eat at a place called “The Rocks Fish” but when we got there it we found you needed a reservation which we didn’t have. Still tired, we opted for the kitchen in the back of the bar next to the fish place. You walk through the bar to the back and order from a guy working in the kitchen. Had to pay cash there or you could go to the bar and charge it. I got the “seafood” basket and Blaise got the burger. The menu didn’t specify what kind of seafood It was a huge plate of food for 18 Australian dollars. Some of the seafood, I could not recognize but all quite tasty. We had beer called Fat Yak. It was tasty and spent our time there watching Australian Rules Football. Ever seen it? I’m fascinated by it. I’m not sure it takes a great deal of skill. Lots of kicking and throwing often to the general vicinity of one of their teammates in hopes a person with a matching shirt is the recipient of said throw or kick. And the refs do this funny guns-from-the-hip thing when someone scores. I’m sitting in our hotel room now watching what I think is the end of the same game and the score is 92-86. It is crazy but they have a stadium full of folks watching it.

The bar was a potpourri of people. Some in shorts. Some in club attire. One guy in a dress shirt and tie. One guy without upper limbs.

Tomorrow we tour the Sydney Opera House before getting on the Celebrity Solstice.

Blaise Says . . .

Snore, Snore Snore (until I make him write tomorrow)