Day 2: Sydney is more than an opera house! (told in photos)

We lost Tuesday on the way to Australia and won't find it again until our way home.  We arrived after getting spotty sleep on the plane here.  The Qantas flight crew was so kind and polite--love it!  No huge drink/meal/trash carts taking up the aisle and hitting your elbows and knees, meals and snacks are offered throughout the flight, and they have nice manners and tone of voice.  So much different than American airlines.

We took a shuttle to our rental car (since the rental company doesn't open until later), then on to the hotel.  We parked our car in their ramp ($40 charge for that) an left our bags there before going out on the town.  Before we left, I grabbed jeans, hiking boots, socks, and jacket from my bag and changed in the lobby restroom.  Our hotel is a few blocks from the Circular Quay, so we walked down and went to the opera house, then we walked around the wharves and got lunch from a fish and chips stand.

Cue the "Aaaah!" chime from Finding Nemo!

The harbor

The botanical gardens next to the opera house

Joshua

Stairs to the gardens

Joshua

They used super long poles to clean the windows!

Along the quay

The Harbor Bridge

Next, we bought Opal cards, which are for transportation and took a bus to St. Mary's cathedral and walked around Hyde Park.

Hyde Park

The cathedral from Hyde Park

Fountain in Hyde Park

Thoughtful Joshua

Down to the crypt

Side-aisle of the cathedral

Joshua joining the children in  learning

Across the street from the catheral--a school maybe?

St. Mary's Cathedral

The main aisle

The baptistry

Stairs leading up to the choir loft?

A synagogue nearby

From there, we took a train back to the quay.  we walked over to the Rocks, which is the "old town" of Sydney, along Campbell's Cove of the harbor.  It was very cute.  We just walked a little before going back to our hotel, hoping to go back again tomorrow.  It is a very cute area with old buildings, harking back to it's original shipping days.  

The opera house from the Rocks

Joshua, Randy, and I

The Custom House near our hotel

Then we returned to the hotel for a short nap, which became a long nap.  We awoke to a note under our door from Kathi and Marian, that they had gone out for a meal and were in bed.  Randy went to check on them and they were, indeed preparing for bed.  It was only 7:30, so we went out.  It is winter here, so it is slightly cool (50s/60s), and getting dark early, since it is the winter solstice.  The three of us walked back to the quay and returned to the opera house and harbor bridge for some night shots.  We went inside the opera house and walked around the lobby; we saw that a musical was being performed--we could see it on the monitors in the lobby.  Pretty awful music!  We walked along the quay, then had Subway for a light dinner.

Harbor bridge

Opera House

Downtown

Randy decided to walk a bit more and get more photos, while Joshua and I returned to the hotel so that he could shower before going to bed.  Hopefully after our earlier nap and a good night's sleep tonight, we will be more awake for a day of sightseeing tomorrow.

Our hotel is quite posh, with a concierge, fancy lobby with wood-burning fire place, large rooms, and really nice (huge!) bathrooms.  G'night!