Savouring Sydney

We've been tourists here for a week, slacking a lot. Not pretending to know the city or the people now, but have had good times. Especially with the cold fading to a bad memory :) We rented an apartment at Darling Harbor through Airbnb, very nicely placed and good amenities, very nice owner but she's sold it now so I won't link to it. View from the terrace:

Dinner at Quay (pronounced key) was delicious, and the waiters very good. Comparisons to Clove Club in London was unavoidable, and CC wins on most counts but the margin was small. Quay wins on lovely quiet and a glittering harbor view, plus the pancetta dish was brilliant. Had to have the Snow Egg of Masterchef fame, but... while it was good, I still preferred the other dessert. The egg, the menu and our wine waiter Mo:

Next up was a concert at Sydney Opera House and it was brilliant. Sitting close to the stage we could see the face of director Ashkenazy and he was clearly happy as well. Beethovens second and ninth symphony were lovely, the acoustics awesome.

I'm your father, Luke

   




Sydney Aquarium was just across the Pyrmont bridge from us, so we had to drop by :) Much larger than it looks from the outside. I love the shark tunnels. Good for kids of all ages, around 2 hours is fine. More pictures from the Aquarium

Brita did the bridge walk (bravo!) and after joined me at Taronga Zoo where I spent all day and proved that you can too get sunburnt in overcast weather, if you're silly enough to not use suntan cream. So many fascinating animals, we did see a platypus! Here are many pictures, and the cutest:

Dropped in at the Museum of Contemporary Art, situated at the traffic hub of Circular Quay. Interesting hour spent, free admittance.

 

 

Botanic Garden was brilliant, I would want even more posted names at each species. Spent 5-6 hours there. Pictures, oh yes. 200 years this garden has grown and some of the trees look it. Are those really Rhododendron Trees, I'd love to know?

I have been dining at the apartment quite a bit, and some at Harborside with Siegi from Germany who I met at Uluru. The food at Harborside was nothing special, chicken fillet at Botanical gardens very good. Have otherwise been getting friendly with Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Pinot Grigio and Colby cheese :)

 

Games: Level 49 of Seeker's Notes, can do the difficult ones in the mornings. Wordfeud looks likely to end down in 9th division again, but just a few matches finished so far, so maybe... Not missing the large games as much as I'd expected.

Have finished four books, light entertainment only, Fantasy of course :) Vacation!

The middle is red

Here are some of the best pictures from Uluru, Kaja Tuta and Kings Canyon, maybe 43 photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/Cew3JdeYn3uNSzzC9 Very quickly chosen.

I have many more - I think 316 all together, if that was not enough for you ;) https://goo.gl/photos/7S44rKQhohkktnAy8

Best moment: Sun breaking the cloud cover at Uluru sunset.
Second best moment: Seeing the Milky Way. No picture.
Best food: Barramundi at Chifley hotel, Alice Springs
Best traveling companions: Ken and Barbie from Australia.
Best decision: Not doing the Rim walk while having a bad cold.

Most uncomfortable thoughts: Aboriginies vs the others.
Biggest surprise: It was cold. Less than 10 C in the mornings.
Biggest challenge: Walpa (windy) gorge living up to its name. It rained, too.

Most irritating 1: No wifi or mobile phone anywhere in Kings Canyon area, including hotel, unless you wanted to sit in the pub, and pay lots extra.
Most irritating 2:"Dinner under a desert moon" being cancelled.
Most irritating 3: Guide telling us all about her private life, on top volume, via the bus loudspeakers, for maybe 20 minutes.
Worst day: 1+2+3

Games: Can't play Wordfeud with no wifi or mobile connection, managed to get back to 8th division still, by the skin of my teeth.

Cozy Cairns

Did get to see a little bit of the Great Barrier Reef from the plane, at least some reefs 🙂
View from hotel room was all right, the Esplanade pretty and in much use by locals.
The ice cream, and the fish & chips, great. Hint: coffee ice cream goes well with macadamia but refrain from adding strawberry with those 😀. Cairns made me a cowgirl (picture from Alice Springs) - the zebra was left behind on the Agra train.

https://goo.gl/photos/4mcw8gzFz1XfV2Jq9
No comments on each picture this time.

Less fun is the cold I've caught. Hope it's better tomorrow when the tour kicks off at an early 6:25. Led to a very slack day except for flying to Alice Springs and having lovely barramundi spring rolls at http://www.silverneedlehotels.com/chifley/alice-springs

Brita has been to Uluru before, so she's spending a week in Brisbane.

Won a few Wordfeud matches. My hardest opponents have also lost one each, so there is hope.

Hello Hong Kong

Dinner at Victoria Peak was good 😊 The funicular is steeper and more busy than Fløibanen in Bergen, but not as nice 😄 (Patriot) View from the Peak wins, I must admit.

The buildings of this city are incredible, and the prices - try 5 million HKD (about the same as NOK) per meter squared ground for premium locations. No wonder they build with 77 floors on that.

http://hongkong.metroparkhotelwanchai.com/ My favorite hotel so far, modern, soundproof, great amenities, when they finish renovating their restaurant it could be perfect, it will also change name to Kew green hotel Wanchai Hong Kong. Really good service.

Took lots of pictures on the city tour bus, will make and share an album eventually, I think. Now, some sleep first! Am in Australia.


Level 47 Seekers notes. Lost one won one in Wordfeud.

The rest of the pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/VDPKrEkTzegtWPz88

Taj Mahal

I cried. It's that beautiful.

Old Delhi tour

Too tired to paste many pictures, so I made an album for you, with comments on most pictures (view in fullscreen mode to see the comments) https://goo.gl/photos/acdFTQWqmFXVMNqq8

The tour was very well organized. We traveled by taxi, electric car, rickshaw (bike type) - and walked quite a bit. It's interesting how seldom people there bump into each other. My hat was a novelty it seemed. Some guys followed us a while, but with Vivian at our side we had no problems and felt quite safe. We'd never had done this alone or together, this way we could enjoy the experience of alleys narrow and streets wide. Horrendous traffic by our standards.

We were peacefully welcomed into the temples and some pictures were graciously allowed. The Sikh temple was huge and modern, text for the songs performed were shown on a large plasma screen in English and one other language. We were shown the free water and meals they hand out, done by smiling volunteers.

The Hindu temple was smaller, more private and real somehow, with a quick-prayer window to the street for those in too much hurry to enter.

I'm sad not more of the Havelis - large private houses in Old Delhi - are kept up and modernized. The district was Holy cows and holy dogs and weird cabling overall. Lots of busy busy people and transportation ranging from wooden barrows to overloaded bikes. Less smell and more noise than expected, it was a lot to take in, and an experience I recommend.

http://www.masterjikeehaveli.com/

Hot at hotel

Welcome at a Delhi hotel is nothing like other countries, at least here at http://www.claridges.com/hotels/the-claridges-new-delhi/ Guards, scanned luggage, a red spot for our foreheads, and lovely service.
  

  

Rooms are huge with lots and lots thingies you might need, room service is prompt and precise, and the food is quite delicious. Modern the furniture and bathrooms was not, depending on which room you got.

Indian white wine in the garden was refreshingly acidic, just the thing in the heat before the mosquitoes came out in force and we escaped inside to AC.

 

 

The most popular restaurant was full booked, but we lucked out with Pickwicks - a very constructive dialogue with our knowledgeable and understanding waiter Rahul resulted in our utter delight. I had Dal Makhani which is black lentils - for tender Me a burning experience, a lot of garlic nan helped me have almost all, with happy tears. Brita had Shahi Mehti Paneer - I was lucky enough to get a small taste and we agreed the Cottage cheese dish was some of the best food we'd eaten anywhere. Add to that the nicest Papadums everrrr. All vegetarian and a feast. Waiter recommended Cola with it, worked a treat.

 

All this without leaving the hotel 😀 Tomorrow we brave the fearful traffic again (passengers only) - keep following the blog to find out why!

Managed to catch up on Wordfeud a bit, and got introduced to Einstein's riddle. PC stays in the suitcase for now, so it's all iPad/iPhone.

Up in the air

We're off to a good start. Got a few hours of sleep, converged with the airport bus, met up with Brita at the airport, check in and departure smooth. Time disappeared on the way through the terminal - we had lots of time really but no time for drinks or cash withdrawal, eventually. Will do the latter at Doha airport - got 7-9 hours there.

Plane from Qatar airlines is a comfy 9 seats across, the two of us are lucky enough to have three seats to ourselves. I enjoy the window seat on the shadow side, even when Europe is covered by clouds. A nice warm meal, of course I had the red wine with it and quite good it was too. In flight movie with wide selection, personal screens are a joy (when they work). So I'm off into Huntsman: Winter's War that I've been meaning to see for ages, loved the first movie.

Only 15 min complimentary wifi on board, so next post from elsewhere :) Same for Wordfeud, caught up on division matches on airport bus, hopefully the lounge at Doha will allow me to start matches with my faithful regulars. I'm on vacation and that includes fun 😄

Warmed up and ready

British museum was really nice. I was so happy to see the Rosetta stone that I didn't even take a picture of it - much larger than I'd imagined and so many signs on it. Very nicely displayed. It was depressing to see how much art had been moved from Egypt, Greece, Assyria and various countries to England, but beautiful art it is.

 

Afternoon tea at the restaurant there was a quite pleasant affair, I'm now a fan of scones with jam and clotted cream - with lots and lots of tea!

T'was two tired ladies that went home, via Nandos at Gatwick which was yum fun, and Norwegian which was delayed yet again - cost us each a long bus trip plus an expensive taxi. Huge thanks to niece for putting up with me and expanding my horizons.


It was not my brightest idea to have this weekend just before the big trip, good fun all the same.


Today has been spent packing, mostly. I'm under the weight limit (finally) and will probably not use it all - or maybe I will? Sneaked in a session with my wonderful Personal trainer at Elixia Ullevål, who helps me believe I can fulfill my dreams.


As feared, I descended again to 9th and lowest division of Norwegian Wordfeud, might take a while to ascend yet again - today has definitely not been focused on that. Will catch up with division matches and my regular Wordfeud opponents tomorrow if there is passable wifi on the plane and/or lounge. If not, or in addition, the iPad games: Ticket to ride, Seeker's notes, and more. Sudoku. Trying to not think of Diablo and WoW. Thinking instead of books, fattened up my Kindle account today.

Sated Saturday

Stayed at http://shoreditch.courthouse-hotel.com/ with good large rooms and a wonderful swimming pool. Bus 243 takes 17 minutes to Holborn. Breakfast ok or a shop down the road, you can store food and water in the fridge which for once only had coffee milk in it, an improvement in my eyes.

Can't tell what I bought at https://www.waterstones.com/bookshops/piccadilly, except it's some presents for Xmas and not books.

  

Next was http://www.wyndhamstheatre.co.uk/ and the play "No man's land" is best described here https://www.facebook.com/ianmckellen/posts/10153943597143601

I will be digesting the play for a long time. Very glad I went to London to see it. 

 

Then http://thecloveclub.com/ fulfilling another dream - the place has a Michelin star. It was wonderful. We were in the front room, had the menu and the Premium wine selection with it. Love staff who love their work, the food was amazing and surprising and the hours flew by. Special thanks to sommelier Leonardo for his choices and stories of wine, and to the chefs for satisfying our dietary restrictions so well.

  

London calling

We will spare you the struggle we had to give you these pictures!!! IF they are visible...
This is my awesome niece Alva. And the bathing suit I got for the farewell present money 😄
The flight is an hour delayed so far. No worries! We have somewhere to sit, nice drink and great company!