Sydney Harbour Bridge

Well jetlag got the best of me and I couldn't sleep on Monday night. Add to that tremendous heartburn caused by what was an incredible kebab at the time of eating... and I decided that it would be best to sleep in on Tuesday and take the afternoon to get some much needed fresh air.

In my two prior trips to Sydney I had wanted to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge but never made the time for it. I decided today that I would at least walk to the south side and get a close look. Inside the southeast pylon, there is a small museum and visitors are able to climb the stairs all the way to the top to enjoy a lookout over the harbour and city! I took photos of all the media and later found that it is thoroughly documented on their website at http://www.pylonlookout.com.au/ so there was not much need to take photos of all the plaques describing everything.



From the top of the pylon, the view is AMAZING. It was a fairly warm day and I was still adjusting from the late-autumn weather of Chicago, so by the time I reached the top my forehead was dripping with sweat. I imagined how the harbour must have looked when Arthur Phillip first arrived in 1788 and thought about how much has happened since then to build this city and the modern country of Australia. Construction of the bridge helped Australia through the Great Depression of the 1930s as it employed steel workers, engineers, and others to help see the dream realized.



After climbing back down from the top of the pylon, I still had a lot of energy so I walked all the way across the bridge to North Sydney. At Milson's Point on the other side of the bridge, I found a small restaurant that specialized in grilled fish. I ordered the grilled flathead with chips and a salad. The flathead was a lot like our catfish, and I could taste the river it came from. I ate what the flies couldn't (this was the beginning of the Great Australian Fly Torture) and then refilled my water bottle before resuming my walk.



I walked to the edge of the water on the north side of the harbour and got a close-up view of Luna Park. Then I found the Milson's Point train stop and bought a one-way ticket back to Town Hall. After getting back to my room I went up to the roof for a fantastic daytime view of Sydney and the harbour.

Day 3 in San Francisco - Cable Car Museum, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Cruise, Alcatraz, Steak and Bread

I woke up early on Friday morning and looked up breakfast places online. I wanted to upload my pictures but didn't want to use up all my bandwidth on my wireless card. I looked up internet cafes and found that a nearby place, Cafe Roma, had free wi-fi internet. I walked over there with my laptop, but the internet connection was so bad I just decided to use my wireless data card anyways. After eating a muffin and sucking down a couple coffees, I went back to the apartment for a shower and my camera.

After that I walked through Chinatown to the Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse which also has a museum of historical photos and items relating to the San Francisco Cable Cars. I got a cooking apron with black and white stripes in the style of an alcatraz convict and a San Francisco Cable Cars t-shirt.



After that I walked back through Chinatown and over toward Fisherman's Wharf to get some lunch. I got a bread bowl of clam chowder, a local specialty. They serve you a heaping portion of new england style clam chowder in a bowl made from a big loaf of sourdough bread. After you eat the soup, you eat the bread!



I was meaning to take public transit to the bridge and walk across, but the day got long and I saw a Golden Gate cruise offered for cheap. The sun was in the right place for some great photos and the cruise took me out under the bridge and then around Alcatraz Island and back to San Francisco, total time would be one hour. I took heaps of photos and saw the moon rise over Alcatraz!







At night I baked a loaf of bread and broiled a steak with some mushrooms and garlic and some onion, zucchini, bell pepper, and garlic ratatouille.