Paddington Market and Australia Museum

On Saturday Courtney and Tony went to the Paddington Market, a street market in the posh Oxford street district.


Courtney got a pair of ear rings and Tony got a belt. Additionally, we went to an interesting chocolate shop. (Pretty good hot chocolate. A bit snobby on the service, though.)




We also went to the Australian Museum. Lots of Indigenous Australia history as well as natural Australian exhibits.





We then walked through Hyde Park. The day actually cleared up!

Coffee down under...

OK, as promised, coffee in Australia.

It's not straightforward. Tony has tried repeatedly to order coffee. You get a blank stare. It's like coffee is a class of drink down here. You wouldn't go and order 'beer' in a bar. You have to specify what kind.

Short Black: espresso
Long Black: Americano (espresso + hot water)
Flat White: espresso with regular milk
+ all the usual cappuccino, latte, machiatto, etc etc etc.

Drip coffee = coffee you get at McDonalds. Starbuck's serves it, but only one variety as opposed to two or three like in the U.S., and it's called 'coffee of the month' rather than 'coffee of the day,' as in, so few people get it (i.e., yanks) that they only have to change it every month.

High Tea

We had high tea at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), a nice shopping complex in a historic Victorian building down town.

What is high tea? Well, technically, tea is a meal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_(meal)#High_tea) Ie, in Australia, breakfast is sometimes called morning tea. (Also 'brekkie')

I really don't know what definitions apply but what we had was basically sandwiches, desserts and scones with cream and jam. And tea. At 3pm. Nice. Lovely. Leisurely. Except the QVB tea room was trying to shoo us out because they were doing prep for some event, probably a wedding that evening.

We finished off the evening walking about and ending up in a hotel pub with Angie and Glendon for fish and chips, more chips, nachos and a pint or two.

Sydney Aquarium

It rained all day on Friday, so Courtney and Tony went to the Sydney Aquarium.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving isn't an Australian holiday, so today was pretty much like any other day down under. Except for the weather. This is what Sydney Opera House should look like on a summer day:





Below is what it looked like today. The weather did not cooperate. It felt like Thanksgiving in the States. It rained, it was cold. Just like November in the states.




Courtney and Tony took a bus tour with Pa around Sydney. We stopped by Harry's Pies, a Sydney institution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry). The special is "meat pie topped with mushy peas." Which is exactly what it is. Call it a 'tiger' and you add mashed potatoes under your mushy peas and gravy on top. They even have a veggie 'tiger' which is a veggie pie with the good stuff on top.

We even went to Bondi beach, the closest beach to Sydney and a favorite of European backpackers. (It wasn't beach weather). We finished with a ferry tour from Circular Quay (pronounced 'key') to Darling Harbor. Good call, Courtney!

While we were on tour, Mum and Angie scoured the city in search of Thanksgiving fare. Success! The American Club has a celebration. Turkey, stuffing and....it's Australia, so we had peel-and-eat shrimp and roast pork and lamb. Apparently whole turkey is expensive here. An American in front of me at the buffet advised me to load up on the turkey and skip the lamb.

Our wine of the day: Stony Peak 2006 Shiraz Cabernet. This wine was especially good consumed in large quantities with equally large quantities of food.

And to Leela! Happy first Thanksgiving! Thanks for dinner Angie and Glendon!

Sunrise in Katoomba

This is what jetlag gives you: You get up at 5am in the morning and happen to look out the window and you're lucid enough to grab the camera to take a piccie.

I had a little dig on the 'little mountains' in an earlier posting, but the fog layering the valleys and nooks are the only thing between the earth and the sky. Perhaps the expression, 'on a mountaintop' really mean just that. An eternity between you and your dreams, but nothing between.

Aussie Wine of the Day - Semillon

Our second wine of the day is the Frog Rock 2005 Semillon produced in Mudgee, NSW (New South Wales). Tony described it as light and refreshing with hints of apple, peach and SweeTarts (all flavors at once). The bottle says there are subtle scents of lemon zest, meadow hay, and grapefruit. We didn't quite get those - definitely not the hay anyway. Overall, we liked it and think it's a perfect summer wine especially with seafood or vegetarian meals.

Touring the Blue Mountains

We spent Tuesday touring the Blue Mountains. This magnificent UNESCO World Heritage site has its share of touristy options - and many busloads of tourists - but the beauty of the area is well preserved. We utilized the Blue Mountain Explorer Bus to get around and did some hiking and exploring at "Scenic World" and Echo Point where the Three Sisters rock formation is best viewed.

Scenic World began with a scenic railway that was originally used for coal mining and then turned into a tourist site and means of getting people back and forth from the mountain ridge to the Jamison Valley. Today they also have a "Skyway" and a "Cableway" - both of which are aerial gondola type vehicles that offer beautiful views of the mountains and valley. The Skyway even has a glass floor that allows you to view the valley directly below while dangling above it.

The Scenic Railway is the "steepest in the world" with the greatest incline being 52 degrees. As we were boarding the train, we got a kick out of this warning sign which strangely equates infants with cameras.

And here's a glimpse of the steep railway...






After taking in the "rides" at Scenic World, we hiked past the Katoomba Cascades...

And then we headed to Echo Point to view the Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters rock formation.

The "Three Sisters" rock formation (above and below) was formed by erosion of course, but legend has it that they were three beautiful young women who had fallen in love with three men from an Aboriginal tribe from the foothills. Tribal lore prohibited the union, and a battle ensued. A witch doctor turned the women to stone so they wouldn’t be harmed, but he was killed and no one could undo the spell. I also read that this legend isn't an actual Aboriginal story but simply one that has been concocted for the tourist industry. Regardless, it's a beautiful site.

Unique to Australia...

In Australia...a lift is an elevator...and a refreshing lemon soda!

In Australia...we're having beautiful weather - sunny and 25 degrees (in the 70s)...and apparently it's also fly season. There are aggressive annoying flies EVERYWHERE. The lady below had the right idea - covered from head to toe, she also found a small branch to use as a fly swatter (above her left shoulder). I was not so lucky. Ugh.

Aussie Wine of the Day - Sparkling

In Asia, we posted the "Fruit of the Day;" from Australia we're going to try a "Wine of the Day" feature. Our first selection is the Christopher Scott Brut Cuvee, a sparkling wine from South Australia that we shared to celebrate our anniversary on Monday. We found it to be fresh, flavoursome, and vibrant! This easy drinking sparkling wine shows an attractive lifted herbaceousness on the nose and fresh fruit flavours. Ending clean with a delicate, creamy mouth feel and a crisp finish.

Okay - so actually that's what the label says. We mostly agree. And we're looking for opportunities to use "herbaceousness" more frequently in conversation.

Blue Mountains

For our 2nd anniversary on Nov 19, we went to the Blue Mountains, about 2 hrs west of Sydney by train. Like the Blue Mountains near Washington DC where we live, there's some "blueness" involved, but not a whole lot of "mountain." Nevertheless it is still beautiful. Now, Courtney read somewhere that the 'blue' comes from the ever present fog, which comes and goes several times per day. They appear blue from the vapors from eucalyptus trees, which happen to appear this color in the spectrum.

You can read more about this spot at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountains

We stayed at the Carrington hotel in Katoomba, which is right across the street from the train station. [Interesting fact: just like in America, many locations, towns, rivers and other geographic features are named as the indigenous peoples called them thousands of years ago. In America, it's Native American names. In Australia, it's aboriginal names. Katoomba means "cascading falling waters" in the aboriginal language.]

We're in Sydney!

After surviving the 14 hour trip from SFO to Sydney, we arrived to find EVERYONE: Angie, Glendon, Leela and Grandma and Grandpa at the Sydney international airport! Weather's in the 80s. Sunny. Perfect breeze. After a brief rest, they took us for an early 2nd wedding anniversary luncheon at Bathers Pavillion (http://www.batherspavilion.com.au/), a turn of the century beach facility in Mosman turned into a fabulous new Australian cuisine restaurant. No Aussie wines tried yet. We stuck to coffee to stay awake. More on how to order coffee down under later.

San Francisco Layover

In a classic 'Tony Time' move, our connecting flights in San Francisco were 7 hours apart to ensure we wouldn't miss the connecting flight. With 7 hrs, we took the SF "BART" into Chinatown, had a nice dinner, and did a little shopping.

"Celebrity" Sighting on Flight to CA

Our trip began with a flight from Dulles to San Francisco. Shortly after boarding we realized that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D - CA) was sitting directly behind us. Lots of Hill staffer types - on their way home to CA for Thanksgiving I presume - greeted her and commented on wildfire and oil spill legislation among other things. Hey, when you live in Washington, DC, these are our celebrities. :)