Sydney – 12/27/2012
Dec 30th, 2012 by admin
The Frasier Suite is an apartment hotel An apartment hotel only has 2 room suites and what separates them from a suite hotel is the addition of a kitchen and washer and dryer. You really can move in and cook and clean if you’d like. They tend to be smaller and more boutique’ish than the big name hotels. And they are generally less expensive to boot.
Of course, they charge for everything on an ala carte basis. Want Internet? Add 25 AUD for 24 hours. Need Parking? Add a parking fee. Want breakfast? Add 22 AUD for a continental breakfast (?!) or 28 AUD for a “full” buffet. It is ala carte, though.
We have breakfast and head out to a booking agency to find a cruise around the harbor. It’s a beautiful day, crystal clear. We walk over to the Darling Harbor and book an afternoon cruise. While we’re there, we walk around the harbor and see the ships docked in front of the Maritime Museum. Christmas is over and the decorations are coming down to be replaced by the New Year’s Eve decorations.
We head back to the hotel for a Skype call to Talyn and Mika. But along the way we pass the chocolate shop that was closed last night. We stop in and pickup some truffles and continue on to the hotel.
Talyn and Mika have had 3 Christmases by the time we get them on Skype. It’s 11:30 in the morning here but it’s 8:30 in the evening at home. It may be late but they are ready to talk and tell their Christmas stories. They’re so cute in front of the monitor. It’s great to see them but they have to go to bed and, after about 20 minutes, we say goodbye and sign off.
We rest up for about an hour and head out for a quick lunch and the half hour walk to Circular Quay where the cruise boat dock. There is a pie shop right down the street from the hotel and we stop in for lunch: a toasted sandwich for Barbara and a steak and mushroom pie for me. I’m really starting to like these pies.
Then the walk to the quay. We’re right in the middle of the post Christmas sales and the streets are crowded. We’re not really very familiar with the Sidney layout so we’re following a tourist map. A couple of times I think we’re lost but we’re not and we finally get to the quay with about 10 minutes to spare.
The cruise boat is a typical sightseeing boat that you might see in New York or London. The cruise takes about an hour and a half and has a recorded talk about the sights near the boat. Of course the Sydney Bridge and the Sydney Opera House dominate the talk and the picture taking. The beautiful weather makes the us forget that last few days of windy, overcast weather of Bateman Bay.
The great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge dominates one side of the cruise boat. As I take some pictures of the iconic bridge, I notice that there are people climbing up the arches of the bridge. The bridge authority sell guided tours that climb the superstructure of the bridge for about 200 AUD – 300 AUD for night or dawn climbs. And there’s no shortage of people signing up for the climbs. The bridge looks like it’s swarming with ants.
Back to the quay and we start the walk back to the hotel. Barbara is looking for a bookstore so that she can get a couple of true Australian Banksia books. The Banksia books are traditional Australian children’s books based on characters that are actually the flower pods of the banksia tree. That’s as much as I know about it. For more info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snugglepot_and_Cuddlepie .
We try one store that doesn’t carry much in the line of children’s books but they aim us at a large, proper book store. We find the store and Barbara finds the books that she’s looking for. Better start looking for more luggage for her to carry he spoils back to the States.
Barbara had seen a write up in the Frommer’s guide about a movie on Australia that is in a theater in the Centrepoint Tower. We find the theater on the sixth floor of the tower but the movie is no longer playing so we head back down and continue back to the hotel.
Just outside the hotel, there is a street musician playing a digeridoo, some electronics percussion, a drum and bells on his ankles. He is just amazing. I posted a couple of videos on the Photo Gallery that you have to watch to believe. Yes he is doing all that by himself.
We walk for about 10 minutes before we realize that we’ve gotten ourselves turned around leaving the digeridoo player. It’s getting to be a long day and we’re both getting tired of walking. But we get turned around and 20 minutes or so later, we’re back at the hotel.
Early in the evening, we head out for dinner. The concierge at the hotel had recommended a Spanish restaurant, the Miro, that head for. Unfortunately, it’s closed but a good Italian restaurant is across the street.
A couple of good meals and some good wine. Back to the hotel after a long day. Tomorrow: back to Brisbane.
Obi-wan