A Day In Sydney On Tuesday June 30th

We started our trip in an unusual way because I had made a huge tragic error. I had read our first flight  wrongly the first time months ago and set up my 2-page coloured itinerary incorrectly.

The Itinerary I had wrote and sent to everyone by email says (still does) that our flight was to leave at 13:05 on Tuesday morning. As I was double checking all confirmations just after Little Lee left for work at 7 a.m. I saw with horror that the flight said departure at 9:05 a.m., not 13:05!!

So Panic mode ensued, as I triple checked the times. Then phoned Ross and gave him the shocking bad news. He was at the dump with a very early morning load of rubbish from his garage that he had been cleaning out for many weeks. (He now has his car stored in his garage!!) So he had to race home from the dump and get ready and packed in zero minutes! Isabel was giving us a ride to the airport! I then rang Isabel, who seemed to have been asleep, and shocked her with the bad news and begged her to get to my unit as soon as humanly possible. She managed to arrive at my unit at 8:17, fantastic Isabel! She was by far the calmest of us three. She drove magnificently. Enormous thanks to Isabel! Check-in counter at 8:38 a.m.! Fantastic!! The lady at the counter didn't blink an eye and said we had plenty of time. Wow! We checked our bags and went strait away to the gate to board, passing quickly through security and luggage x-rays etc.

We were actually seated on the plane by 9:00. The plane was delayed by a few minutes. (Apparently, we were not the last to check-in!) The plane took off at 9:28 and we were off on our adventure.
Arrived at Sydney Domestic Airport at about 10:35 or so and gathered our checked bags and went in search of the supposed courtesy bus to our hotel.

After a couple of misdirections and wrong advice we finally arrived at the International Airport at about 11:30 and Rydges Hotel is 40 m from the International Airport McDonalds. We checked in smoothly and finally were in our room before noon. Ross finally got to have his shower and shave!
Then we headed back to the McDonalds we had passed for lunch. Then off to the city on the Train.

Ross in Hyde Park, near the War Memorial Building and this new sculpture. We walked down into the Sydney downtown and through Queen Victoria Building Shopping Centre after this.

We went to a couple of Ross's favorite shops, the two Japanese Stores Muji, and Kinokura Book Store. The book store was fabulous! Huge and everything to do with books PLUS stationery and office stuff. What's not to like? Heaven. Now if they only had an attached cafe!! I found 5 great books and saved about $50 by using my phone to purchase all of them from Amazon on Kindle.
What a great world we live in, hey?

Ross is the ultimate shopper; much better than I am, and I had to retire to a cafe, where he met me a little while later. I reviewed my new Kindle ebooks while I had my coffee and rested my poor knees.

Finally, after a tour of the very Haute Couture shops of The Queen Victoria Building (Went into the large Ralph Lauren shop, which was all dressed up in a magnificent Maine lumberjack/Cowboy theme, and they had a wooden sign high on the wall that advertised Old Town Canoes!!) We saw a lovely sweater for $300 off! Only $570 dollars on sale! Very tempting.

Finally, we headed straight from the "Queen Vic" building to Town Hall Train Station and took it to North Sydney Station to go to Melanie and Richard James' house on Dumbarton Street at McMahon's Point. Ross has a great app on his iPhone called Hop Stop, which gives you directions from anywhere to anywhere in the world, including walking time etc. Fantastic! Gave us perfect directions and we walked from the train station to Mel's house and got there just before our scheduled 6pm dinner.

We helped babysit Mel's 2 gorgeous girls, Poppy who is almost 5, and Lola who is almost 1 and almost ready to walk. Fortunately Lola was happy to be entertained by Ross and I and didn't complain at all of our unfamiliar treatment.

The Baby Whisperer. (Actually Nat has that title in our family, but Ross did a great job here.)
Mel made a fabulous dinner and we all had a great time, including the kidlinks.

Richard came home after a long working day and we were very pleased to chat with him. They are all looking fantastic and happy and well. Lola is a terrific baby, who generally sleeps well and Mel is looking great.

We left around 8 as everyone was a little tuckered and we were interfering with Lola's normal sleep time. Mel drove us back to the station (Thanks for everything Mel!!) and we grabbed the convenient train back to Central Station and then changed trains and went back to Sydney International Airport Station. We were back in our room by 9 p.m., then we went down to the hotel's business centre and completed on-line check-in for our United Airlines flight to San Francisco, leaving (yes, triple checked!!) at noon time Wednesday.

Back to the room and after a little reading Ross and I dropped off to sleep the sleep of the just.
Ross is a professional sleeper, whereas I am a rank amateur by comparison. I was up at just after 4 a.m. Thus it is now exactly 6:09 a.m. and I am in the lovely hotel restaurant completing this blog, whereas Ross is still fast asleep. I will finish this and finish my second cup of coffee and head back up to the room at around 6:30 when I won't feel so guilty about making shower noises and getting ready for the new day.

After a shaky and way too exciting start, we are finally having a great time.

Next blog will be from The Mark Twain Hotel in San Francisco in about 24 hours from now.

Lance

Lance and Ross are off to San Francisco!

Hello Dearest Family, Friends and Blog Readers,

Everything is gradually getting less and less copacetic as my adrenaline levels rise. I have practice packed and this did help as I reevaluated the stuff that had to go. Also, I am a little confused about what goes in my Carry On Bag as apposed to my Checked Suitcase. Hmmm.

The Travel Blog I had previously set up was annoying me in some ways and although I still have access to it, at mytb.org/lancebrussell , I have decided to try Blogger, which is associated with Google and is a bit more seamless with Google Mail. It has a lot more options for formatting and is very similar to Gmail writing.

You can insert photos like the following photo of the Front Desk of The Mark Twain Hotel, 345 Taylor Street (corner of Taylor and O'Farrell) where Ross and I will be staying for our first 7 nights in The United States of America.

 The hotel is old but has been recently renovated. Apparently the recent renovation got rid of some old ghosts that had been haunting the hotel for a few decades. Whew! What a relief.
Here's a photo of the front of the hotel from the street front i.e., Taylor Street. This is looking almost due West from Taylor Street.

 O'Farrell Street runs West to East and if you walk down it from the hotel you get to Market Street, the sort of Main Street of Downtown San Francisco in about 5 blocks or about a 10 minute stroll.
Two blocks down O'Farrell and then two blocks North towards Fisherman's Wharf and you get to the famous Union Square. Loads of shopping and restaurants there.

Well, I am getting excited and a little anxious.

Next blog will be from Sydney at Rydges Hotel near Sydney International Airport, where we are staying Tuesday night before we fly to San Fran noon on Wednesday July 1st.

Lance