West Side Ceiling Mirrors Rainy Sunset Story
We arrived in Sydney after an unexpected upgrade to a business class flight on Emirates from New Zealand. We breezed through the arrival formalities and caught a rare London (Chicago) black taxi into the city. But, when we arrived, we circled our well-lit destination like moth flying through honey.
“It’s construction, mate,” the cabbie claimed. “They’ve closed Kent Street.”
“Hmm.” I replied. “He is cheating us,” Nazy thought, as the meter, which was not flying through honey, spun furiously.
“They have so much luggage that they can’t get out and walk,” the cabbie thought.
“We’re close, but we have too much luggage to get out and walk,” I thought.
By the time that we finally arrived at the hotel, the taxi meter had passed A$100 and was about 50% more than our previous trips to the airport. Nazy was miffed.
“Miffed?” Nazy interjected. “I was cheated.”
“There was construction, Nazy.” I noted.
“He should have known.” Nazy replied as we approached check-in at the Meriton, Kent Street.
“All the taxi drivers know,” the checkin clerk, overhearing our conversation, commented. “They close the same roads every weekend while they’re working on the light rail system.”
‘I’m glad I didn’t give him a tip,” I thought. “Do you remember me?” I asked the clerk.
“Ah..”
“Last time we arrived early and you gave us a room on floor 17.”
“Ah..”
“But you promised a better room when we returned. Well: We have returned.”
“Ah..”
“Not only was the room on floor 17,” I thought, “the ground is on floor 10 and the building doesn’t have floors 11, 12, 13 or 14.”
“Of course I remember you!” The clerk enthusiastically replied. “Actually I remember your wife, Naz,” He thought. “She is charming.”
“Thank you.” I replied. “Yes!” I thought
“Give the man a tip,” Nazy whispered.
“I only have hundred dollar bills,” I whispered back.
“My husband will be back with a tip, Pedro.” Nazy announced.
“Pedro?” I thought.
The room was, without a doubt, a luxury suite. We had a magnificent view of Darling Harbour and Circular Quay as well as the Sydney skyline. (The 17th floor room had ‘featured’ a view of Kent Street and an air conditioning duct.) We had ..
“… a mirror on the ceiling in the bedroom!” Nazy announced.
“That’s the traditional place for such a mirror.” I replied. (See photo above)
Sunset from our hotel room
We had a few days in Sydney before our flight home. We had plans. For a few weeks each year, Sydney Opera builds a stage in Sydney Harbour where they hold an outdoor performance. This year, for the first time, they staged a musical: West Side Story. We had tickets…
“… outdoor?” Nazy asked. “What if it rains,” Nazy thought.
Note: Nazy’s thoughts were well-considered. We had attended an outdoor performance of Aida on a stage built in Lake Constance in Austria. It rained. A lot. Moreover…
“The weather report says ‘ widely scattered showers’,” I told Nazy.
“My weather report doesn’t say ‘widely’, Dan.” Nazy replied. “Well…”
“And my weather report doesn’t say ‘scattered’, Dan.”
“Yes, I, eh..”
“But my weather report does say ‘thunder’, Dan.”
“Well, I’m sure we can, eh, find a poncho,” I replied. “Or something.” I thought.
We spent the morning walking around Sydney. Then we walked through the Botanical Gardens toward the venue. (I chalked up 29,000+ Fitbit steps that day.) The weather was gray, but dry.
“… until we got to the harbour,” Nazy noted. Accurately. Having arrived early, I prudently selected the only culinary option that was under a roof. I also invested in two ponchos. We watched the sunset behind the Opera House and The Harbour Bridge.
The View from the Venue
The Set for West Side Story
The rain stopped just as the show began. Nazy and I used our ponchos mainly to avoid sitting in the water that had puddled on our seats. It was a great show! A fireworks display punctuated ‘The Rumble’ scene. At the end of the show, we took a water taxi back to Circular Quay, caught the Metro back to Kent Street and walked to the hotel. The (spectacular) vacation was winding down. We still wanted to..
“… do some shopping,” Nazy suggested.
“We haven’t seen the famous beaches — Manly and Bondi,” I replied.
“They have a lot of old buildings that have been converted into shopping arcades,” Nazy continued.
“We can take a fast ferry to Manly Beach,” I suggested.
“I think you need a good quality Australian Hat,” Nazy countered.
“Maybe we can squeeze in a bit of shopping,” I concurred.
The final update about our vacation down under will appear in the next issue of The Weekly Letter. In the interim a few more photos of Sydney:
For last week's letter, please click here
Nazy at the Opera on the Harbour
The Panchos