Day 4 in Sydney - part 2

After visiting the artisan markets at The Rocks, we took the train over to Paddy's Market near Chinatown.

We used the light rail from Circular Quay to Chinatown. It is at street level and goes most of the way on George Street.

I had done some research on using public transportation -- I had thought that we would have to purchase individual tickets, or possibly an "Opal Card" that we could load with a value and work off of that pre-purchased value. But, the Opal Cards did not seem to be readily available (only certain retailers sell them), and they have AUD$20 on them to begin with, and I wasn't sure that we would really use that much value. As I continued researching, I found that we could use a "contactless" credit card

-- one that has one of these symbols on it that you can just tap to pay.

The transit system has a "tap on/tap off" system -- you tap your contactless credit card before you board the train (or bus or ferry) and then tap off when you leave, and your fare is automatically calculated. The light rail train from Circular Quay to Chinatown was US$0.63 (probably AUD$1).

Someone we met had recommended visiting Paddys Markets -- it was quite the adventure!

We went up to the first floor first -- it was like multi-level a shopping mall.

Then we went down to the ground level...

This was a massive market -- produce...

... fresh greens...

... these were being grown hydroponically...

Lots and lots of fruits and vegetables

Seemingly anything you could want!

I found it interesting that the height markers were not consistently in meters -- some in millimeters!

There were also a lot of vendors in booths selling all sorts of things -- we found teeshirts for about 1/2 the price that we had found at Circular Quay.

We went back upstairs to the mall...

At the top level of the mall was a gaming area...

lots of different games...

... many people enjoying them!

Driving race cars, or something like that...

On one of the upper levels, there was an IGA supermarket that we walked through - they also had produce.

One of the levels had a food court - we checked out the different options and decided on noodle bowls from this shop...

We chose our meat, type of broth, and type of noodles -- there were also simple vegetables in the broth.

We could have taken the train back to our hotel, but we decided to walk...

We came across Town Hall...

There was a protest supporting Ukraine in front of the government building.

I had wanted to walk through the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) as I remembered going there the first time I came to Sydney many years ago...

 

Inside the QVB is a multi-level high-end shopping mall.

We got back to our hotel, and I found this information plaque on the wall about the history of this building...

A picture from our room of what the power outlets look like -- on many of the outlets (like this one), there is an on/off switch to control the power to it.

Lots of walking, some shopping, feeling like we are learning our way around Sydney!