The plane to Sydney and Sydney

Below are 58 photos, mostly of Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Opera House.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Opera House tour. Exploring the structure was more interesting than I had been expecting. The shapes are regular and yet unusual at the same time. Historic, groundbreaking, stunning.

To Sydney

fluffy clouds
Vacations in Asia usually entail flights on planes that have a safety message on the seat in some kind of writing I cannot read. On Virgin Australia, everything is… just English. How bizarre!
In my experience, this is an unusual perspective from which to see rain. It looks like a curtain.
coast

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour Bridge
This was our first look at the Sydney Opera House. Hardly the last.
We’re in Sydney!
Now we are looking at the iconic building from slightly farther away.

Sydney Harbour Ferry Trip

On the advice of someone we sat next to on a plane, we took a ferry to one of the Sydney beaches. Then we hurriedly bought tickets and took the ferry back. For us, the point was not to see the beach but to see Sydney Harbour. Mission accomplished.

This is what the ferries look like.
You can pay to climb the upper or lower arch of this bridge. It looks like fun. Lots of steps, but fun.
We are on a ferry. There’s another ferry.
Okay, wow. This is why we took the ferry!
weird coast
The beach we took the ferry to is called “Manly Beach”. The ferry terminal there is called “Manly Wharf”. It overlooks “Manly Harbour”. Insert your own manly Manly pun here.
This sign onboard the ferry says “Please give this seat to disabled or less mobile passengers.” That’s bad phrasing. Either “this seat” should be plural or “passengers” should be singular.

Sydney Harbour Ferry Views

Christmas

Before eating a huge Christmas lunch, I was this skinny.
The hotel had no reindeer in the lobby near the Christmas tree, but rather a giant wombat.
If we’d been in room 314, I’d have been reminded of the mathematical constant pi. As it was, I was reminded of the Bible verse, “For God so loved the world…”

Sydney Opera House Tour

the view from the balcony of the Opera House
the Opera House plaza
a reflection of the bridge
We are on tour learning stuff. And taking selfies.
distinctive purple carpet inside
Even looking at the ceiling inside, you can tell that the floor is purple.
purple steps
non-purple steps
reception hall with purple and non-purple steps
reception hall
part of the roof structure, from inside
More of the inside structure.
weird shapes
The round things in the middle at the top bounce the sound back to the musicians so they can hear themselves properly.
Okay, now just look at the photos. The architecture is amazing.

That’s it! Oh, but while we were there, we learned that Jackie Chan had recently been to the Opera House to film some stunts for a movie. That movie was Bleeding Steel.