Feb 26. In and around the City

After a long first day and a couple of good night's sleep we were ready for our third day in Sydney. The Four Seasons Hotel is very quiet. We are on the 25th floor and hear very little. The binds are super tight and the room dark so it was late in the morning before we were ready to go.

With lots of options, we decided to spend the day poking around downtown. First on the list was the Queen Victoria Building. It's a 19th century shopping mall with wonderful architecture, lots of stained glass, wood and tile. There are also wonderful stores and places to eat. Lots of stores we don't see, some with very narrow range of goods. One store seemed only to have what we would call rubber boots and rain ware! We enjoyed it all.

Great architecture preserved. 

Great places to eat. 

More stained glass than you see in many churches

Several floors to explore

Wonderful clock

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We wandered around, checking out restaurants as potential eating places, and window shopping. Google maps came in handy but it's still easy to get turned around. I've found you have to have some basic idea of the direction of things you are looking at on the map or you can easily head off in the wrong direction.

After lunch at a small street-side cafe be went up the Sydney Tower Eye observation deck. While not as tall as the CN tower it did offer some great views of the city. Some showers moved in so the sky was not as blue as it had been earlier.

We finished off with a stroll through Hyde Park. It is a beautiful spot with wide paths and big trees. There was a chess game going on that we stopped to watch. They were some pretty serious contenders.

The Australian War memorial was at the end of the park. It's a moving tribute to the the role Australia has played in global conflicts.  In many ways the stories are very similar to a those you see in Canada.

After a visit to the Woolworths grocery story (an interesting comparison experience), a beer on a plaza, dodging the rain on the way to the Long Chim Thai restaurant for supper, it was back to the hotel for a rest. After almost 16000 steps and 8 hours on our feet, we deserved it.