NYC of Australia

Yesterday afternoon we got our first views of Sydney from Georgie's grandparent's house near the South harbor. I wouldn't be surprised if photographers rent their patio to do photo shoots for postcards. We could see the Opera house, the bridge and nearly all of the harbor. Later we walked around the South Head which is the southern piece of land that creates the harbor in Sydney. Again, there were beautiful views but also some unsettling ones due to the fact that the walking path went by a nude beach. Not surprisingly the only patrons were old men even though it was cold, the tide was up and it was windy. Imagine five old men, sitting on rocks, in windbreakers and hats but with no pants on... a bit disturbing. Regardless, the natural scenery was awesome (in the literal sense).

Today we had our first real day in the city. We took the morning train from Georgie's house, which was very similar to commuter trains in Jersey and Penn. Most of the riders were business people in suits and there was standing room only. After coming up from the train we split from Georgie and went to explore the shopping district of Sydney. Right away there were huge similarities with New York-- everyone wearing black suits and coats, crossing streets based on traffic and not signals, and buildings blocking most of the sunlight. However, one difference I noticed right away was the pedestrian pattern on the sidewalks. Forward traffic moves on the left of the sidewalk and the opposite traffic moves past you on the right, whereas at home you walk on the right side. This obviously parallels the difference in driving, but it is not something you notice until it has changed.

Keeping with the true tourist spirit, Lola and I hit the pavement shopping. We scoured one of the main malls (which is really just a street with a lot of shops) and didn't stop until we met Georgie for lunch around 1pm. She took us to this fabulous place called Pancakes on the Rocks that serves pancakes for all times of the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. We split pancakes au gratin (potato and onion cakes with hollandaise sauce) and devil's delight (chocolate pancakes with strawberries and vanilla ice cream). Yum.

After lunch it started raining and the coats we bought earlier in the day saved us. We wandered through shopping centers to keep out of the rain and window shopped for a while. When exiting a store we actually saw someone important enough (of at least self-important enough) to have an assistant trailing them with an umbrella while the assistant was left running behind her getting wet. The "posh" parts of the city are very clear when you suddenly come across Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Burberry, Cartier, and Louis Vutton all in a row. Wet and weary we caught the evening train back, but again at peak hours. The sea of black suits and trench coats moves so fluidly in one direction that it wouldn't be possible to go the other way.

Somehow I've managed to write as much about one day of shopping than I did about a week in Fiji, so kudos if you've made it this far. I'm cutting myself off now and going to sleep (11pm Monday night) as many of you are just waking up (6 or 9 am Monday morning)... strange.