This was meant to go out before the last one.

10.16.2012           Sydney

Across the street from our hotel is Hyde Park, long, narrow and oval (It was once a race track) and home to Sydney’s Annual International Food Festival this week from 5pm until 10pm, Monday through Friday.  We will stop over one evening and see what’s what.

On our street in Sydney has a Hop-On Hop-Off stop two blocks away and at the stop is at a stunning, Gothic Catholic Cathedral.  It is the church of St. Mary of the Cross and is massive with marvelous stained glass windows and inlaid floors of marble and possibly other stones.  There are many beautiful side altars and a very high choir loft that is reached via an ornately carved wooden staircase that wraps around one of the pillars of the building.  An oddity is that the Stations of the Cross go counterclockwise around the church.

It is difficult to get oriented with the sun going from east to west north of us.  This will take awhile to adapt to! 

We got a 24 hour pass to the Hop-On Hop-Off  bus system in the early afternoon and took the city tour.  There are many old and stately building that are “Heritage protected” meaning that the outside cannot be altered.  The interior may be altered for different uses.  There is another tour that looks to go mostly to the beaches around Sydney.  We plan to take it tomorrow and on Wednesday go out to the Blue Mountains.