Sydney Days 1&2

Thursday afternoon sightseeing ,,, with public transport (train, light rail, metro and ferries) no problem at all, and, not too expensive neither. Sydney is the most populous city in Australia with almost 5.6 mio. people, called "Sydneysiders". It's located on Australia's East Coast. During his first voyage in 1770, James Cook landed in Botany Bay (the Harbour of Sydney). 18 years later, the first fleet of convicts arrived from Great Britain and made Sydney the first European settlement in Australia. 

Though it may not be true, our impression is that nowadays there is a hu ge percentage of Asians living in the city.We went for a long walk, some clouds made the temps very pleasant. Above, the famous Opera House, which looks more "beige" and has a massive brown concrete base. Not as bright and glitzy as shown on many photos.

Above, the promenade from the Opera House to Circular Quai where ferries and sightseeing boats depart (left photo). This is a tourist hub, very crowded, also, because of the cruise ship harbour here, which spills out enormous amounts of people who run to the Opera House, get photos, buy some souvenirs and sit in the cafés and restaurants.

 

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge from 1932 (above, right), the Customs House (below, left) and some of the other historic buildings in town.

The famous Queen Victoria Building with its fancy shops (below), feels like in "Good Old London"!

The Hay Market Building with "Paddington Market" (above, right), a mix of a food court, farmers' and souvenir market. To end a long Thursday, we had a beer at one of the many craft breweries in town (left pic).

Friday morning, after breakfast with delicious baking goods from the bakery across the street where we are staying (in Glebe), we took the streetcar over to the brand new Fish Market at Blackwattle Bay. The abundance of fish and seafood of all kinds was just incredible:

Some culture on Friday. Our first museum: the Contemporary Arts Museum (left/below), followed by three more: The Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum and the History Museum. All of them very interesting, and, mostly free!
Inbetween we visited the Royal Botanic Garden, where we saw our first cockatoo:

... and admired Government House, the official residence of the Governor of New South Wales:

Ibis are to be seen not just in the Botanical Garden, but all over the city, so-to-say, some sort of "garbage removal" (right photo)

 

The Art Gallery of New South Wales (above, right) is located nearby the Botanic Garden and Hyde Park. It's famous for its world-renowned artwork - see photo below taken in the Aborigines'section:

Next: The Australian Museum, founded in 1827, a bit old-fashioned, but with a certain flair:

Some public artwork (photo above), on our way through The Rocks towards Observation Point. Our "highlight" for museums was the History Museum in the Hyde Park Barracks. It's free, and, it's highly instructive with audio installation and original artifacts. Visitors walk in the footsteps of the thousands of convicts, migrants and institutionalised women who once lived and survived here. Also, the ongoing impact of colonisation on First Nations peoples is explained in this UNESCO World Heritage site.

Trivia: another favourite drink in Australia - beside the great beers: Bundaberg non-alcoholic drinks.   

Along the Inner West Ale Trail in the Merrickville neighborhood around a dozen of craftbreweries row up in walking distance. We had a couple of beers - great ales! - and a pizza. Strolling through vivid Newtown (see photo further below) afterwards - crazy busy and packed with young people - we called it a day afterwards. 16 km walked today!

Change of Plans,,,

Well, what started out badly, ended nicely,,, In a nutshell: Our trip over to MUC Airport was uneventful, we left the house at 10:30 am on Tuesday and it took us 2.5 hours, as always. Our BA plane to London was supposed to start at 3:50 pm, but, because of a manipulated smoke detector on the way to MUC, we had to wait in Munich until 6 pm. Then, deicing became necessary because of a minor snowstorm in the evening, and, therefore only about 3 hours later we flew out towards London Heathrow, at almost 7 pm. Touchdown in London, local time: 8 pm, bus transfer from the plane to the Terminal. Our connecting flight with Qantas to Sydney would have departed at 8:15 pm with a minimum of 45 min. transfer time to the other terminal. This one was history!

 

Communication on the plane about missed connections was non-existant, but we found the Customer Service desks quickly and they rebooked us rather uncomplicated on a Cathay Pacific flight departing at 10 pm. Crossing the airport again by bus and walking and passed security once more.  Luckily, with some sweet talking at the gate, we got booked on a 3-seat-row at the back of the plane. At least, one empty seat inbetween us, we thought. On the plane, a B777-300ER it showed that most rows were only occupied by one person and that the (last) row, the one behind us, wasn't taken at all. So, we had two rows, one 3- the other 2-seats, and could stretch out for the next 12 hours. Lucky us (the Qantas plane was almost fully booked!)!. But, I have to assess, that names don't play a big role in Economy (cattle) Class. Seating is cramped, narrow and not too comfy, no matter what company you choose.

 

With three pillows and blankets I slept at least in intervalls for a bit. The first half of the flight was really bumpy, lots of turbulences, real heavy ones. Haven't had that for a long time on U.S. flights! Is that always like this on flights to the East? At this time of the year? Is it worse on the back of the plane? Don't know,,,

 

Looking down over 10,000 ft (right photo): mostly desert, vast empty sand areas, some mountain chaines inbetween, almost frightening and impressive at the same time! The entertainment system had maps to follow, though, I didn't know most "city" names, and, country names were missing.

 

Arrived to Hongkong on time - a huge airport (photos below), very fancy and super-clean, with stores of all the big brand fashion names. To burn the 2,5 hours inbetween flights we walked around, many decorations still for the Chinese New Year of the Wild Horse.

 

 

 

 

Tired,,, rude awakening on the connection flight: The plane (again, a B777-300 ER) was fully booked because of the ending of Chinese New Year's celebration, and we were squeezed in a 3-seat-row, window and center. Horrible! A Chinese guy, sitting with us, slept most of the time, and, it was hard to get up to go to the bathrooms. No space at all, knees under the chin, and the mere thought of stretching and sleeping became vain. Got really  grumpy on this 8 hour-flight to Sydney. Never again window-center seats on flights longer than 3-4 hours!!! Food was pretty much okay, Asian inspired and tasty, service was very friendly as well.

 

 

 

 

We made it, nevertheless!!! 36 hours after we left home on Tuesday, we arrived in Sydney on Thursday, at 9:45 am local time, with cloudy skies. Immigration was easy (though they didn't tell us on the plane about a customs form we had to fill out,,,) and our  luggage did arrive despite our doubts. After a quick clean-up and re-packing at the airport, we took the train (only 10 min) to the beautiful main Central (railroad) Station and went on by lightrail (streetcar) to Glebe, a student/gay neighborhood, where we are staying in an AirBnB for the next four nights. 

 

It's a bloody long way!!! See new cap!

We dropped  our luggage, and went out again, for a full day of sightseeing. Are we crazy or what? Yes!!! The sun came out in the afternoon, but not "burning hot", rather humid-warm. More on our adventures and first impressions of Sydney tomorrow, too exhausted now to get photos ready and to post on that. Don't know how long I haven't slept anymore.

 

AUSTRALIA - getting ready!

Never been to Australia  before! Didn't know a whole lot about this huge continent, with the exception of the bits and pieces we learned from our friends from Perth, Mary & Bruce. We have an original Australian boomerang on our book shelf, and, we love the the three little stuffed animals gifted by our friends (photo further below). Also, from their visits in Germany, we know that the Australian language needs a little time to get used to,,, not your common American English!

Since it's such a long flight and not inexpensive neither, we decided to do more than just Western Australia, and, to travel for five weeks. We'll start in Sydney, tour the surroundings by car, fly over to Uluru (formerly: Ayres Rock), to Melbourne & area and from there to Perth. That's the rough itinerary, more details coming up once we are on our way.

To get familiarized with this (at least to us) completely unknown, far-away continent, its history and culture, landscape, flora & fauna, we started around the Christmas holidays to do thorough research to get prepared. We bought and borrowed books in the library, got maps, read articles, watched films and more. At that point, we had already booked the long-distance flights, and had a general route in mind. National flights followed, then car rentals – all not easy!  We were so used to the good-old USA and United Airlines and Alamo! Now, so many options, so many factors to consider (connections, luggage, seat selection, transit time, etc.).

At first, we were thinking it's easy to get around, and ... underestimated the distances. Assumed,  we could - with the exception of Sydney, Melbourne and Uluru – play it by the ear. Stay at another place every day, without making any reservations. But, then, we noticed that it's still peak season in Australia, end of summer, and a lot of festivals and events are going on.

Therefore, Peter spent quite a bit of time in January to find adequate accommodations, some AirBnB's, some hotels – but, boy, that was a LOT of work! Especially, since we are not your "average vacationers"! We check everything ten times: where is it, how is it, who said what about it, etc.,,, and that takes time and nerves! 

What worked really well so far, was organizing media visits to sights/museums. Very helpful people, very accommodating! And, to our surprise: rates for hotels and other products were lower than what we were used to from our last U.S.A. visits (and, from Germany, too). We'll pick up on that topic once we are in the country.

Germany fits into Australia about 22 times, see the map below! But, population-wise it's the other way around: Germany: approx. 83,5 mio.; Australia: 27,2 Mio.(and the U.S. 240 mio.)! Even the United States are only a bit larger in size than Australia!  At the beginning, we weren't fully aware of the size, and originally planned to drive all the way from Sydney to Adelaide and Melbourne. Even Brisbaine was temporarily under discussion. In the course of time, and, also, thanks to the advice of our friends, we cut down. But, still, probably fully enough to do and see as we planned now! Not a walk on the beach,,,  

Another four full days at home, and, getting ready. Tuesday will be our departure day. From MUC to London and from there with a refueling stop in Singapore to Sydney. That will become a VERY  long day. Touchdown in Sydney will be on Thursday morning their time. Summer and sunshine! Stay tuned!

 

Athens - Στο επανειδείν! See you soon again!

Last full day in Athens, another beautifully sunny, warm day, which started with breakfast on the balcony with fresh baking goods from a nearby bakery: bougatsa, tiropides and koulouri. 

Again, we watched the change of the guard in front of the President's residence and the Parliament, and found out later, that it's regular conscripts, selected in military barracks all over the country for their tallness, stamina, discipline, charisma, etc. After a special training in a barrack behind the parliament, they serve as "Evzones" for a couple of months as part of their regular service. Greece still has mandatory military service for young men, righ now 12 months!). The evzones are very disciplined, they they have a ballet-style choreography, and, they are dressed very warmly in costumes introduced by King Otto from Bavaria.

Old style music for free at Monastiraki Square:

And, strangely, we were walking in Exarchia, Monastiraki, around the Central Market and other neighborhoods, and noticed wall paintings of the same artist everywhere:

Central Market, fruit and nuts department. 

Below: a bookstore - Greeks are still very keen readers, there are lots of bookstores and kiosks with print matrial! - and, a street in Exarchia. This neighborhood around the Tech Uni of Athens is a hub of rebellious people, intellectuals and activists. In 1973, the Greek military raided the student occupation of the Polytechnic University, killing 40 civilians. Still today, strikes and riots usually start here.

Tasty gyros (cut meat from the large vertical spit - mostly served in a pita with tomatoes, onions, fries and sauce) and souvlaki (little separately roasted meat skewers - served on its own with lemon or also in a pita bread) - delicious and cheap at Giorgos-Manos in Exarchia.

 

 

 

 

The National Archeological Museum (above) ,,, how many hours have we spent there at study times! We went back again to meet our friend Wanda again, and, noticed that at least 1/3 of the rooms are closed for different reasons. At least, I found one of "my Aphrodites", a small roman copy of the (lost) famous greek statue of Aphrodite called "Louvre-Naples", about which I wrote my dissertation.

Below, a glimpse into the ceramics collection (a geometric amphora) and on the right the famous Antikythera Ephebe, a bronze statue dating around 340/330 BC, found in 1900 by sponge-divers in an ancient shipwreck off the island of Antikythera. 

Further below the valuable gold treasure of Troy, discovered by Heinrich Schliemann.  

Enough is enough,,, getting tired of museums,,, After our visit, we went for some grocery shopping in downtown - especially, cheeses and olives, raisins and herbs to take home with us. Then we sat a bit at Monastiraki Square to enjoy the sun (for the last time this year?) and to watch people and cats. Through the National Garden (further below, left) - a green oasis with a little zoo and pavilions, an openair café, botanical treasures, a pond, etc. we walked home to the AirBnB when it got dark.

In the meantime, we arrived back home. Transportation to the Athens airport on Friday, noon, was quick (subway), flight on time. The Athens Airport is a very modern, clean airport with lots of opportunities to still shop greek goodies of all kinds for reasonable prices. Arrived in MUC at 17:30 pm, home at 20:15 pm. It's been a strenuous, but informative, efficient and action-packed trip - brain is spinning! For the next two weeks (until due date of the book update) we have to sort through all the newly gathered information and to label and select the right photos.