Exploring Sydney

It's Saturday at 5pm...I realized the date and time of all of my posts are completely wrong...oh well! Anyway, yesterday afternoon I took off and went to see the city since I'm supposed to be playing the part of the tourist. I went to Kings Cross first, which is supposedly the red light district of the city and I've heard that it might not be safe for single females at night time. Well, I got there and walked a block through some bars and some sex shops, but then it was over. It wasn't even close to Amsterdam.

I kept walking and then found myself in a posh neighborhood and figured out that I was in Potts Point. Very cool! So I walked through back up to try and find more of Kings Cross (but didn't) and then I stumbled upon Hyde Park and St. Mary's church. The Eastern side of the city has a lot of hills, so that got old quick. I kept walking toward the harbour and passed a lot of older buildings like the Mint and the Australian Parliament. Then I saw the Royal Botanical Gardens, which don't cost any money to see, and definitely took a detour through them. How beautiful! The garden is huge! There were a ton of very different looking trees that seemed like they would have been fun to climb. I kept walking down to the water and then took off toward the Opera House. There were a lot of joggers along the waterfront and I was thinking, I could jog too if I lived close to these gardens!

I kept walking towards the bridge once I passed the Opera House and the whole area was filled with Business men and women enjoying some happy hour at one of the many fabulous eateries! There are condos right there on the wharf, next to the opera house...I bet those are the most expensive condos in all of Australia! I walked up towards The Rocks (the historic district) again and decided to stay next to the water, but walk along the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Seriously...the worst decision since I've been here! There wasn't anything but a Theatre and a cliff that blocked me from reaching the civilized side. So I thought it would be a good idea to keep walking and maybe I'd find a bus stop or something...wrong! That bus route was cancelled. I was down by the international ports with my feet aching just wishing for a bus to come by. Finally I reached civilization and found a metro station.

I decided since it was about 6pm and I was exhausted, that maybe I should grab some food and go see a movie! Luckily I picked the right stop to get off and found a sign for Cinemas near by. This was a very American moment because I went to Subway (where they didn't have oil and vinegar?) and then went to the latest Nicolas Cage movie "Next." Everything else playing I had either seen or had no desire to see...I didn't even want to see this, but I really wanted to sit down for a long time. Anyway, the movie theatre was freezing, but the movie was actually pretty good! It was fun listening to the Australian audience react to the action parts. Oh and get this, while I was waiting for it to start, the Asian gal in front of me was snipping her nails! Ha! In the movie theatre! Oh and another weird thing, bell peppers are called "capiscum." Whatever that means...

Anyway, that was my Friday night! I'll update you later on today's adventures!

-Lisa