The Opera House

Sydney Harbour is pretty breathtaking, but I wasn't so overwhelmed by the Opera House until we went inside for the tour--totally worth it to see the building; our tour guide was mediocre. The wood inside the Opera House is gorgeous and the view makes us both wish once again that we had big windows overlooking the water.

Interesting tidbits from the tour:

-The pipe organ in the main concert hall took ten years to build and another two years to tune.

-The Opera House was estimated to cost 7 million. Price tag came in at well over 100 million.

-When you're late for a performance, the Opera House makes everyone wait in the lobby. Everyone means everyone, including, apparently, George W. Bush.

So as not to miss out on anything, Simba, of course, woke up just in time for the start of the tour.

Afterwards, we walked through the botanic gardens and up to Potts Point, King's Cross, and Darlinghurst. We weren't told that getting up to Potts Point involves some serious hills. Tons of fun with "the pram." 

We ended up at Bill's in Surry Hills on the way home. This restaurant claims to be the originator of the ricotta hotcakes. The waiter seemed surprised when B ordered hotcakes (at Carlos's encouragement) from the dessert menu for dinner. The waiter seemed even more flabbergasted when she asked what from the appetizers she should order: "I'm not sure what really goes with hotcakes for dinner." Zucchini chips turned out to be the perfect complement. 

We heard loud, angry squawking as we walked through the botanical gardens and looked up to see this bird. Birders we are not, but even we have found many of the more colorful birds in Australia pretty awesome.