harbour bridge : brides :: cassowary poop : flies

One thing you may not know about the bridge - it's a bride magnet. On Saturday evening as we walked back to our hotel after a day of shopping and exploring, we saw no fewer than six brides and their parties either getting married or having their photos taken near the bridge, with it and/or the Opera house in the background. Our hotel hosted three weddings that night, and since they weren't as anal as The Carneros Inn about music, we had to listen to "Rock the Casbah" until nearly midnight.

For the first couple of days here we met up with Billy, who is serendipitously in Sydney on business. We did the Paddington market, which is an amazing collection of local crafts and delicious food - lots of really interesting, different stuff here, both the arts and the cuisine. Billy also joined us for our aquarium and wildlife habitat visits, where Jamie finally got to pet a koala! It was nice to see a familiar face for a bit after nearly two weeks so far from home.

Sydney has been great, though it reminds us quite a bit of our own San Francisco, so it doesn't really feel like much of a change. The climate, the integration of water, rock, and structure are all present here, but in a different form. "Modern Australian" food could pretty much be described as "California" food - just substitute barramundi for salmon and call things "capsicums" instead of "peppers."

Darling Harbour and The Rocks neighborhoods got a lot of our attention - the former because it has a lot of attractions, and the latter because it's such a great neighborhood to stroll around in, full of shops and great restaurants, and surrounds our hotel. We have some gripes with our lodging, but location definitely is not one of them.

We took a walk around Bondi Beach - amazing views and a great surf culture around there, but it was too cold for us to lay on the beach much less go in the water for a surf lesson. Still, a worthwhile trip.

Our final dinner was at Quay, an award-winning restaurant at the top of the International Passenger Terminal, offering sweeping views of the harbour. The food was fantastic. I had a mud crab congee that totally changed my views on congee (that is, I actually know what it is now). Jamie had "the best risotto she's ever eaten." The dessert was an "eight-textured chocolate cake" which really did have eight different textures. The food deserved its every reward.

But in spite of the tremendously good cuisine, the service was oddly off. The three courses in our fixed-price meal came so far apart that Jamie and I decided to start timing them. We were literally ignored (except maybe the occasional refill of our water or wine) for a full twenty-five minutes between each course. We've had slow, leisurely dining experiences, but this place is the SNL of restaurants, offering three great rewards spaced way too far apart to approach comfort. What's astonishing is this is by design, as our waiter defended the pacing when we asked about it.

Overall I think we both enjoyed our dinner the previous night, at Rockpool Fish, much better. Superb seafood, classy and friendly service. Anyway, enough foodie rant for now. Tomorrow, off to the wine country!

Pictures of the moment: from top to bottom:
1. Drinks at the top of the Shangri-La hotel.
2. A new friend at the aquarium. He's crafty.
3. Us at Paddington market.
4. A swimmer at The Bergs, a swim club that's built right on the rocks at Bondi Beach. You can see how the waves from the ocean splash right into the pool itself.