Are You Going To Eat That?

By Rob

Our first full day in Sydney is off to a “different” start. We arrived to our rental unit in Chinatown about midnight, after a delayed flight from Melbourne (connecting point from Ayers Rock) to Sydney yesterday evening. The condo is very nice and is the best stocked rental unit we’ve had so far. It is located in the Haymarket area in downtown Sydney near the central rail station. The building is next to Kimber Lane . . . “By day this unassuming lane is animated by blue clouds and silver figures, transforming an otherwise ordinary service lane. By night the ‘spirit’ figures illuminate the lane with an otherworldly blue glow, inviting visitors to explore this addition to Chinatown’s vibrant night-life.”

The “different” start to our day is centered on the need for Betsy to see a dentist. This photo is the moment on the plane yesterday when Betsy realized she swallowed her crown!!

Yep, it didn’t just come loose, it came off and went all the way down. We had some entertaining discussions on how to recover it, but alas, we determined it to be irretrievable.

So, we woke up on Friday to a cold and rainy Sydney, with the primary order of business to find a dentist. Fortunately, Betsy found an emergency dentist 15 minutes from our condo that could see her today. Since we are not in Sydney long enough to get the permanent dental work complete, she will have a temporary crown that will hopefully last until we are back to the States in February. While Betsy had her appointment, I had a taste of home sitting in Starbucks listening to Christmas carols. It is odd getting in the Christmas spirit as we approach summer in Australia. Side note, they still have Black Friday sales here on November 28th even though they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving (retailers don’t want to miss out on that cash cow).

Our explorations of Sydney for today were revised to accommodate a later start after the dentist visit and adjust to a wet 60 degree day (this after the dry 95 degrees in the Outback yesterday).

We started in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is Australia’s oldest park and sits on 16 hectares of open space in the heart of central Sydney. A few sections of the park were being renovated, but we were able to stroll through most of it and see the Archibald Fountain, Anzac Memorial (honoring those lost in WWI), and other sites.

Adjacent to Hyde Park is St Mary’s Cathedral. St Mary’s Cathedral stands on the site of the first Catholic Chapel in Australia. Constructed in local sandstone, the Gothic Revival style of its architecture is reminiscent of the great medieval cathedrals of Europe. The current building replaced the previous cathedral that was lost to a fire in 1865.

For our entertainment this evening, we decided to see a movie and settled on Wicked: For Good. We found a nice theater in walking distance; and the theater was a bit of an upgrade from our typical movie spot at the North DeKalb Mall AMC, IYKYK. 😊

We ended the day with a walk through Chinatown and the night markets. The title of this blog was intended as a reference to Betsy’s tooth, but we had some interesting food this evening as well.