Oh, my feet!

Date: 26 March 2012 06:24:13

We have a free day and we've walked our feet off. First we explored the QVB, Queen Victoria Building . A magnificent shopping arcade full of high class shops,and a hobby shop full of models and toys where we made a few purchases.

This is the entrance we went in, where there's a statue of Queen Vic that came over from Dublin. The loos were beautiful, lovely tiles on the floor,if a little snug. More of pretty loos anon. We made our way over to the Australian museum. The Rough Guide had said it was free but it was $12. The displays of Australian birds and animals were interesting but on the whole they were presented in a dull way . My favourite gallery was devoted to Indigenous Australians with videos of the first peoples talking of their experiences. There was a recreation of a painted cave similar to those at Uluru with a recording of dreamtime stories being told. There was also a small chapel with a video about aboriginal spirituality and how it was changed by the Christianity brought by the missionaries. One comment was that the missionaries brought the light,which I found a Quakerly thing to say. Another comment was that the missionaries didn't listen to what the aborigines had to say about their own spirituality,and that if they had they would have found many points of agreement. It was raining when we emerged so we raced up to Circular Quay and had a light lunch in a cafe. The we retraced our steps a little to explore the outside of the Opera House. What a magnificent and unique building. I would have loved to attend a performance there. It's a concert hall with several venues rather than just for opera. We went into the foyer for leaflets,looked at the shop and visited the loo. Have a look at this:

The sky was clear blue by now so it was a good and busy place for photo opportunities.

We had a look at the little old Cadmans Cottage then went into the Rocks museum,which is also small but it packs a lot of information in. Visited a bakery for goodies including a mocha and a pistachio macaron. Further along the was a fruit stall where I bought 2 large figs. Haha, I don't have to wait till September for a fresh fig. Back at the hotel I rested my plates of meat (more rhyming slang!) and devoured those yummy figs.