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!

Day 4 in Sydney - part 1

On Saturday we had plans to visit some market areas in Sydney...

We decided to go to the buffet breakfast in the hotel -- there were cold options...

... as well as hot options....

... including baked beans (which we had not previously eaten for breakfast).

I saw that there was Vegemite available, so I scooped a small taste of it on a spoon and brought it back so Carl could try it...

... he tried it and this was his response! We decided that you must need to start eating it when you're young to get used to the flavor!

Carl is in love with the coffee machine at the hotel buffet -- it has a bin for coffee beans as well as chocolate that can be freshly ground to make your coffee -- the milk in the refrigerator next to it is hooked in with the coffee maker to infuse the milk in the coffee.

We decided to walk down to The Rocks as they were having a weekend artisan market...

We saw an Airstream trailer (Forture of War) being used as Sydney's Oldest Pub.

Lots of booths in the artisan market

Apartments in The Rocks that appear to be made out of shipping containers

Another view of the market

Another part of the market

A Celebrity ship at the Overseas Cruise Terminal

A good beginning of our Saturday morning!

Day 3 in Sydney - part 2

On Thursday, as we left the Botanic Gardens, we were at the "back" side of the Sydney Opera House...

Coming up to the Opera house from the side away from Sydney Harbour

We walked around to the Harbour side and this was our view.

We found a bench and sat for a while, enjoying the beautiful day and the views.

Overseas Cruise Terminal on the other side of Circular Quay -- no cruise ship in port on Thursday

We decided to take a tour of the Sydney Opera House -- so we purchased tickets and then joined with our tour guide...

Our guide and a few of our fellow-tour participants outside the Opera House

We first visited the Joan Sutherland Theatre -- this is coming up to the wall at the back of the stage area... you may be able to see that the insides of the building (the theatre) are built inside the "shells" that form the iconic outside of the building.

Another view showing how the inside is built within and separate from the outer structure.

This is just under the "shell". The glass here is at an angle so even at night, there will not be reflections of the light from inside, so you could easily see outside.

We then went into the Joan Sutherland Theatre, used for opera and ballet performance. We had been cautioned that we could not take pictures inside the theatre due to copyright protection of the ballet's scenery that was visible onstage. (We couldn't detect that it was anything so amazing, but... whatever!)

After leaving the Joan Sutherland Theatre, we walked between the two large theatre buildings...

-- between the two, we had an up-close view of the covering on the shell...

Carl between two of the large shells.

We proceeded into the Concert Hall - the scheduled performance was for a showing of the movie "Gladiator" with the symphony providing the musical effects for the movie.

Since there were no scenery components on the stage, we were able to take pictures inside.

We were seated in an area of the hall while our tour guide told us about the theatre.

The area right behind where our guide was standing was the box where Queen Elizabeth II sat while she enjoyed a performance when she came to officially open the the Sydney Opera House in 1973.

A panoramic picture of the inside of the Concert Hall.

As our tour finished, we checked out the gift shop, and then Carl found a place he wanted to sit...

... Carl wants to get a big screen TV for our park model -- he thinks this one may be almost big enough!

Looking back at the Opera House as we headed toward Circular Quay.

We had lunch at a burger place alongside Circular Quay and enjoyed ferries and other boats coming and going while protecting our burger and fries from marauding pigeons!

A McDonald's in a less-than-usual building design!

Carl had taken a picture of the Central Business District on Wednesday; one of the buildings was SalesForce and he asked his sons if one of them uses SalesForce software in their work -- Scott indicated that his company installed displays in the lobby of the building and that they are the largest LED displays in the southern hemisphere...

.. so we had to go see them! The receptionist took our picture in front of part of the display...

... then the security guard came over and suggested that we stand right up against the windows to get the best picture!

We stopped by to see "Maybe Sammy's" -- supposed to be one of the top 50 bars in the world (not sure by whose measuring scale!).

We walked down to Barangaroo (where we had walked on Thursday) and had dinner at one of the harbour-side restaurants. They were having an Aperol event (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperol) -- evidently an Italian orange colored liqueur. There were some street performers that were probably there due to this event.

An interesting bar/restaurant -- Barangaroo House (https://www.barangaroohouse.com.au/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp&utm_content=Barangaroo_House&utm_term=plcid_92893900637765389)

On our way back, we decided to try walking through an underground area for Wynyard Station -- we weren't sure whether we could walk all the way through without having to board a train, but we were able to do so. There were a number of shops underground.

Up on top were the light rail trains

Another day with lots of walking, but we're learning our way around the city!