March 23, 24, 2013

Wow, what full days we have had! Yesterday, we spent the morning visiting Paddy's City Market on Hay Street, Chinatown and the very cool, Darling Harbor. Paddy's Market is pandemonium. It consists of hundreds of booths, most offering the same types of merchandise, jammed into a very large covered market space with throngs of people milling around. You want cell-phone covers, they got 'em. You want knock-off purses, they got 'em. You want high fashion or sports shoes, they got 'em. How about electrical and hardware? It's all there. At the rear of the market is an area dedicated to fruits and vegetables stands. We didn't need any food items, so we just bought things we've never had before. We bought dragon fruit and a custard apple. We have not had the dragon fruit yet, but we did try the custard apple. Although it looks very unappealing, it's flesh inside amazingly does taste like apple custard!!
Darling Harbor is wonderful. I read that the dock has been in place since the early 1800's but it was made into a showplace destination a nearly 180 years later. Then in preparation for the 2000 Olympics, billions of dollars were pumped into it to make it the grand area it is today. And they have a plan to update it once again with work to begin later this year. It is a very remarkable place! Look it up, you won't believe it - and I am so jealous that Atlanta does not have anything that even compares. We in the fine city of Atlanta should do more! This place hosts an absolute flurry of activity! It seemed that everyone in Sydney was there - kids were playing in the fountains or playgrounds, and people were dining, dating, partying, shopping, or like us, were out to simply enjoy the atmosphere. Along the waters' edge, boats, ferries, ships, and yachts, large and small, were coming and going.

Stan and I were so impressed with the park-like atmosphere, we decided to return later and spend the evening there. We took a sunset ferry-ride - just for the fun of it, all around the bay, from Circular Quay, under the bridge, by the Opera House to Darling Island and to Rose Bay - another very nice area. When we returned to Darling Harbor we enjoyed the views from a night time perspective, took a bunch of knock-your-eye-out photos and treated ourselves to a huge lobster for dinner!!

Today, we returned to Darling Harbor, but our objective was to visit Manly Beach - most easily reached via the ferry from Darling Harbor. After a 30-minute ferry-ride across the sailboat-filled bay, we disembarked the ferry. From there we simply follow the crowd down the Corso through the township of Manly to the beach. The Corso is lined with shops and restaurants - anything and everything to attract the Sunday crowd's dollar. At the end of the Corso is the beach! Holy Cow! I have never, never seen so many people on one beach in my life! They were busily having lunch, playing whiffle-ball cricket, swimming, surfing and sunning. We got some fish and chips (like everyone else), relaxed on the soft brown sand for a couple of hours just people watch and did some people watching - mostly children watching. Kids are so cute! We did put our feet in the water. While the air was hot, the water of the Tasman Sea was very cool.

We returned to Darling Harbor via the ferry, walked past the Maritime Museum and sat on the steps of the enormous Convention Center steps watching street performers woo the crowd doing a powerful break-dancing acrobat performance. They looked polished enough to get a gig on a cruise line. They attracted a really big crowd and wowed them to cheers. Not so many people actually put money in their buckets though. I think a cruise-line offers them a better ticket to stardom.

Tomorrow is the last full day of this journey abroad. We plan to spend the day visiting Bondi Beach, the Sydney Opera House and if there is time, we will walk through the Botanic Gardens and nearby cathedral. Yes, it is a little bit sad that this is ending. Any end can be sad. We love traveling and could do it days on end. And Australia and New Zealand are wonderful countries; we have thoroughly enjoyed every minute here and every person we have met. But here is what I have to say, U-S-A! U-S-A! I love the USA! America, the beautiful!! We are coming home!