Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday afternoon, Delsa and I had planned to go shopping at a mall. She invited Garrett to come along so that she could buy him something. Bob decided to come along to keep Garrett company. When we mentioned we had slated a solid three hours for the adventure, Garrett quickly retreated to the house to grab a book.

We headed to Rundell Mall, where we knew there was a Toys R Us and a Target. We had been warned that traffic would be bad, and we were not disappointed in that. After a couple of very stressful times around the block, it was decided that Garrett and Bob should just go back home since they were just going to be miserable anyway, and then they could come back and get Delsa and I later .

I probably haven’t mentioned that Kmart is the store d’jour in this neighborhood. I haven’t been in Kmart this often since the days of the blue-light specials in Helena. There is a Kmart and a grocery store within walking distance from here, so that’s pretty much what you get to chose from.

So when she mentioned there was a Target downtown, I was pretty excited. It didn’t last long though, because Australian Targets are not anything close to the same as what I had been expecting. It was so disorganized and crowded that we finally just bailed, hoping that Toys R Us would be better. We walked down the mall (not the indoor kind, but the kind with a cobblestone road with stores on either side) and found Toys R Us. I guess we picked a bad day to shop on, because it was more crowds and chaos and we ended up leaving pretty quickly. After that, Kmart began to look way more attractive.

We went to a men’s’ clothing store for Bob, and a Borders Bookstore, and then tried to find something for Delsa. The clothes seem to be a lot more expensive here than in the states, and it was hard to find anything great, so we gave up and called for a pickup. I think even our pathetic little mall in Charlottesville will seem pretty great now that my best option is Kmart.

After we got back, Ryan and I grabbed our backpacks and headed to the airport to go to Sydney. It is so nice not to have to have a lot of luggage. Have I mentioned you don’t even need to show ID in the Australian airports? We use our credit cards to print our boarding passes at little kiosks and then go through security. No one ever asks us for anything. It still seems crazy to me.

About 10 Sudoku’s later (they really make the trip go quickly), we were in Sydney. We grabbed a taxi to the hotel, checked in, and grabbed some hot chocolate from the McCafe down the street (nothing but the best). Our hotel was right downtown, so the next morning Ryan took a cab to where he needed to be and I was able to just walk over to the Opera House. I quickly realized that I had left my media card for my camera back in Adelaide—it was pretty disappointing.

Sydney is a great city. I’m sure it’s expensive to live here, but it seems like it would be such a fun place to live. I went on the tour of the Opera House and then took a boat cruise all around the harbor. I got off the cruise on a different part of the harbor than where I started, and began exploring there. After our miserable shopping trip the previous day, I decided to try the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), since I had read good things about it. It’s an old building that has been redone into a shopping center.

I think the QVB is one of the most beautiful malls (although, that doesn’t seem like the right word to call it) I’ve ever been in. It was also expensive, but the stores were so fun to look through that I didn’t care. I found a couple of photos online that show the building, but I'm really sad I didn't have my camera here.

After going there, I walked down to the Chinatown area and Paddy’s Market. I had promised the kids I would bring them something back, and that seemed like a good place to get it. They had lots of souvenir shops, all of which sold exactly the same thing. So I found a few things they would like, and then treated myself to a back massage at a little kiosk there in the market (nothing like Shauri’s and Kristin’s). I had been carrying around my backpack the whole day, and the woman kept trying to rub out all of the knots in my neck associated with that. I wanted to tell her to just give up, since I was only halfway through the day and I was sure anything that got rubbed out would just come right back.

After that, I walked around Darling Harbour. Or maybe it was Cockle Bay. Either way, there was lots to see and do. I did find that walking around by myself made me less likely to try things (like museums, tours, etc). I have pretty much always done things with Ryan, and I definitely missed having my travel partner. I’ve always thought he was crazy for not taking advantage of touring the cities he has gone to on business (Oslo, Athens, Istanbul, etc), but I can see now how being alone does change the dynamic.

By the time I needed to head back to the airport, I was pretty tired. There is a train that goes straight from downtown to the airport, which made my life very easy. It was a great day in Sydney, and only could have been better if I had had my camera and Ryan with me. But I’ll take what I can get. Ryan also had a great day meeting with people at a consulting company named “Second Road”. I’d explain what he learned there, but I don’t think I understood it 100%, so we’ll leave that for another day.