I am back from a 48-hour (or less) trip to Sydney. I'm so happy I was able to fly over there to see my mom off. Although we did not have great weather, it was still a big treat to spend the time together before she headed home. Little did she know what she was in for when we made the trip. Mid-flight, she asked what I most looked forward to in Sydney, and she laughed when I answered "The food!" Poor woman must have thought I was kidding. Thank you again, Mom, for putting up with my foodie obsessiveness!
We stayed in Surry Hills (great atmosphere, reminds me of New Orleans in many ways), and we walked down to the harbor from there after a late lunch at bills, just beneath our apartment hotel. After about an hour of walking in the cold rain and wind (I know I'm a whiner), I was ready to catch a cab ride back to Surry Hills and eat sweet treats at the Bourke Street Bakery (strawberry-vanilla creme brulee, anyone?). Slowly, we window-shopped and meandered our way back towards our hotel, when I realized that we were just in time to get in line for Billy Kwong for dinner. OH. MY. I am so glad they don't take reservations, because with only 14 tables or so, it would be full of the same people every night with no prayer of getting in...and you really must get in! Hello! Of course, to do so means you really must be in line before they open at 6. We ate lunch at 2. Yes, I know. After all that food in a six hour period (oink, ahem), I was pretty much set in the food department for the next day or two.
It was extra-fortunate that I was able to travel with my mom the day before, because we awoke to heavy fog on Friday morning. It burned off completely by midday to reveal a lovely, clear day, but many early morning flights (that she would have been on if we hadn't gone a day ahead) were diverted to other cities. That would have been quite the debacle! As it was, my mom got off without a hitch. I returned to the city, where the weather changed to overcast quite rapidly. About 10 seconds after I closed the taxi door behind me in the harbor area, it started pouring. Then, it was hailing and blowing in sideways. Yippee! A two-minute break allowed me to duck out of cover and snap this shot mid-meteorological-apocalypse:
Once more, the sideways rain and strong wind resumed while I sought shelter under a bridge. I don't know how long I hid under there before it let up enough to venture out with an umbrella. After a while, the rain and wind both stopped completely. Within an hour from the start, the weather had turned to this:
Go figure.
Not long thereafter, I surrendered to a foodie calling back to Surry Hills for fantastic Sicilian-style pizza at Pizza e Birra. Okay, and take-away gingersnap ice cream sandwiches from bills, which I greedily devoured back in my room. Oink. Burp. Yum.
Recent Comments