Sydney
Date: 18 March 2009 09:23:21
Despite my post below on the things that annoy me about Sydney, there are some nice places -- and some lovely buildings to be found. I stayed at the Grace Hotel, which has had a varied history since its opening in the 1930s [headquarters of Sydney's iconic Grace Bros' [now Myer] department stores; commandeered by the Australian Government in 1942 for the use of General Douglas MacArthur during his South Pacific operations in World War II; continued use of the site for for government administration; refurbishment and opening as a hotel in 1997]. It is a beautiful building, wonderfully decorated, and I enjoyed my stay there.
Sydney often seems to have a tear-down mentality when it comes to historic [for us mainly the 19th century...] buildings, though some flashbacks of the past can be seen, including the Strand Arcade, some theatres such as the State Theatre, and, my favourite building [though not for shopping: can't afford much in their apart from the ABC Store!] Queen Victoria Building:
Very modern [glass is all the rage apparently] is the Hilton Hotel [where the conference was held] and Sydney's Apple store. It suits the Apple store, Apple being modern and funky, but I found the general starkness and lack-of-warmth in the Hilton lobby a bit off-putting.
The Harbour Cruise, given the spectacular sunset, was a highlight; I am generally not that enamoured of sailing on a harbour [or sailing in any form], and I always feel that harbour cruises go that little bit too long, but there were great views to be had.
Sadly I have no steady hand, nor tripod, so when using "Night Mode" on my camera streaks were the order of the day. Though I did not mind some of the patterns that resulted:
I liked the way the colours changed on the water feature in front of some apartments:
I also travelled on the light rail from where I left my car to the city and back. Some nice views, particularly of the ANZAC Bridge, to be had.
All-in-all, not a bad few days.