Day 3, Sydney

We began our day in the Botanical Gardens which are absolutely beautiful.  I also love that you can just stroll into them, no gate, no cost.  We walked down to the waterfront area of the Botanical Gardens.  Great views.  The hanging foxes were pretty wild which hang from the trees like bats.  Jessica could have done without them.

After leaving the Gardens, we walked over to the Art Gallery of New South Wales which sits inside the garden.  Large building which is perfect for exhibits.  We all really enjoyed the layout, the views and the architecture.  It was really interesting walking through and seeing the permanent exhibit.  Many of artists we had never heard of.  There was an exhibit of Sidney Nolan, supposedly one of the best painters in Australia.  Never heard of him until yesterday.  The kids really enjoyed the museum and so did I.  Emily even commented to me she is really drawn to late 20th Century early 21st Century modern art.  She'd rather own an Eric Freeman or Matt Satz over a Picasso any day.  Pretty interesting actually.  I can't say that I feel much differently.  I wouldn't mind owning a Gerard Richter.

The sun finally came out after we left the Museum.  Across the way is Wooloomooloo which is an old pier that has been transformed into an area with a hotel and apartment and restaurants.  Quite a structure.  Historically a port where shipping came in and out.  There is a huge fleet of Navy tankers that resides there.  Also, is Harry's pies.  Harry's pie actually buys their pies from Hannahs which is the place to get pies in Sydney.  So, we did.  Can't say I'd find myself ever ordering the pie again but it was an experience.  We had the Tiger which is the original.  Meat pie with mashed potatoes and mashed peas over the top and gravy.  Reminds me of the kind of food that was the fare in London before the cuisine changed to be more nouvelle.

We climbed a very steep set of stairs that put us in Potts Points which is a really nice neighborhood with cute restaurants, shops and beautiful trees.  We stopped at a few places a long the way as we made our way into Kings Cross and then Darlinghurst.  Serious walking.  Once we got back to Darlinghurst we sat down for snack outside at Coluzzi.  Local hang out.  Wooden tables outside and maybe a few tables inside.  Sandwiches, salads, pizza and fantastic coffee.   

The boys had enough and hit up an Apple Store for wifi and the girls kept on going.  I tagged along with the girls.  We went over to Queens Street which is at the end of Oxford Street.  We hit up a few stores although most were closing for Xmas.  It was imperative that we go to see Simon Johnson which is the Dean and Deluca of Sydney.  We were disappointed.  The shop is quite small.  The highlights are really all of the jarred condiments and the beautiful cheese refrigerator in back which holds a few people.  Otherwise, not sure you could only shop at Simon Johnson like you could at Dean and Deluca.

We kept walking down to a section called Five Ways where 5 different streets merge into a circular.  Couple of shops and restaurants.  Part of the neighborhood.  We picked up a ridiculously overpriced Panetone to eat today for Xmas.  Hope it is delicious.  Walked our way back to Oxford and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.

Lots of places are not open in Sydney during the holidays.  Sort of a drag.  Also, eating really nice every night after awhile, to me, is too much so we broke it up last night with a trip to Chinatown.  We had dinner at Golden Century.  I believe we were the only people in this huge restaurant that has two floors, sort of stadium like, that were not Asian.  We had a variety of dishes recommended from the waiter.  One was Peking Duck which is served a bit different here than in NY.  They serve it in two courses.  First course is the skin with the pancake, plum sauce and scallions.  Then comes out large pieces of lettuce and the meat from the bone has been chopped up and stir fried in a wok which is rolled up into the lettuce.  As a whole, the food was nothing to write home about but we did have a couple of good laughs there. 

Home and to bed.