Sydney

Had a busy day and a half in Sydney, enroute to my return home. It rained part of the time. The weather was not much of a factor as I walked to all corners of the city-proper.

Here are a few shots of the Sydney skyline and harbor from different vantage points.

I went on a backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House early on Monday morning (7:30 am) as well as walked all around and viewed it from several vantage points, as you can see in the follwing pictures.

I was surprised to learn that the roof surface was made of tiles.

THe view from the river promenade - you can see the glassed in observation level (bronze colored glass).

The view from inside the Opera House observation level looking out at the harbor area.

On the backstage tour, I got to see many different areas of the interior - a lot of which could not be photographed, or does not come across well in pictures. We did see all of the 5 performance venues in the facility. Here are some of the interior shots.

Performance venue 1 - the main opera stage.

Performance venue 2 - the concert hall.

One of the largest pipe organs in the world - located behind the stage in the Concert Hall.

Performance venue 3

Performance venue 4

Performance venue 5

The star's dressing room - very plush and huge - Pavarotti, and the like, used this room before going on stage.

Many performers kiss the wall for good luck before performing - you can see the imprint that they make on the wood finish.

And lastly ... the production company provides an "infinite" number of ballet shoes to the performers, rarely wearing any pair twice. This trunk is full of shoes and is one of many near the stage entrance.

Here is a series of pictures of the Sydney Harbor (or as the spell it "Harbour") Bridge, starting with a shot taken form the 340 meter high Sydney Tower.

You can see Luna Park tucked in under the bridge at the far end.

Notice the distinctive face at the main entrance to Luna Park.

You can take a bridge-climb tour (very pricey) to the top of the bridge. Here you can see some climbers on the incline portion of the structure.

Here are more climbers visible at the very top of the bridge.

Some climbers looking back at the Opera House.

The busy Circular Quay (pronounced "key") ferry boat terminal area, adjacent to the Opera House,

Click on the Circular Quay map for more details.

Boats out in Sydney Harbor ...

The horseback police out in force near Circular Quay.

My favorite breakfast in almost any country - almond croissant and cafe latte.

I walked through the Botanic Gardens near the harbor and saw a lot of interesting things. Here are a few pictures. The first two pictures show some of the areas that I walked through, both along the waterfront and in the botanic gardens.

My hotel was located just 50 meters from Darling Harbor - a very active area full of attractions like the aquarium, maritime museum, and boat tours, as well as restaurants, bars, clubs, several wharves with interesting shops. They had the area decorated for Christmas as you will see in the pictures below.