14 hours and 40 minutes is a long flight. So long that once you've slept more than you should reasonably sleep, you wake up, it's still dark out, and you still have remaining about the distance from SF to Chicago. Exit row seats are pretty clutch here. Best realization on the flight: the Economist app is brilliant on the iPad 3, because the screen resolution is as good as print, and you don't have to carry around the paper.
Having learned my lesson last time, we ate our jerky on the plane and had no hassles at customs. A quick train ride later, we were in the heart of Sydney. Accomodations in Australia, including hostels, are quite a bit more expensive than in South America; rather than paying $15-20 per person per night in a hostel, you can expect to pay easily twice as much. That means that when you have three or more people, even a pretty nice hotel amortizes to the same cost as a hostel. Long story short, this is our view:
We were able to check in early and catch showers before heading out for the day. Hotels in Australia charge extortionate rates for Internet access - ours offered wifi in the lobby for the low, low rate of $15/hr. So, we hit up the cafe next door for breakfast and free wifi. Also, we found the most interesting man in the world shorn and selling coffee:
After breakfast we visited the nearby ANZAC memorial in Hyde Park, and then wandered up through The Rocks towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the lookout from the pylon over Sydney.
The pylon lookout charges a reasonable $15 to climb up and get a great view, and includes an informative tour through the history of the construction of the bridge:
After the bridge, we walked through Circular Quay towards the Sydney Opera House and took the tour there. It was my second time on the tour (the first for Omar and EJ, obviously), but I still saw new things -- this time, we got to see some of the behind-the-scenes areas where they store and set up new theater sets.
After the bridge, we got lunch at the Australian Hotel. Funny enough, this was the same place I first got lunch in Sydney two years ago. The pepper kangaroo pizza is still there, and still good. We then walked through Circular Quay towards the Sydney Opera House to wander the grounds and take the tour. It was my second time on the tour (the first time for Omar and EJ, obviously), but I still got something new -- this time, we got to see some of the behind-the-scenes areas where they store and set up new theatre sets.
Dinner was Italian and promptly followed by jet-lag-induced slumber.
Location:Sydney, NSW
