It is a Friday in Sydney. I’m leaving today but I’ve got until 3:30 so this is another day to explore.

I’m going to start out walking from my hotel in Chinatown. This was a great hotel to stay at, it was very affordable and somehow, I ended up with a suite as large as an apartment and with a great view.

My place has a view of a nexus of people. They come and go from every direction. Most of them have some schedule to keep and somewhere to be. I wonder how common or un-common their lives are. How many are hot dogs and how many are lobsters?

It reminds me I’m not the first to look at it this way. To see it as an outsider, just an observer. Sometimes I think of it like being on a ferris wheel. I can see everything but I’m just a spectator with no influence. I’m just here for a ride and a view. There’s a movie that is similar because you really aren’t in control of the world you see. It might not even be real. Real being a measure of how we define our reality.

“You mean the Matrix?”

The next block over is Thaitown. I liked that town too.

“Still the Matrix.”

I call it the simulation.

“You mean the projection.”

I wonder if I had come here first if I would have had the same room all week for the same price. I had no way to know and besides it wasn’t a bad thing to stay at a different place each night. I only have a carryon and small bag. The hotels will hold your luggage for a day before or after you check in or out. That’s good for late flights and generally moving about without the burden of baggage. My hotel is going to hold my bag for the day while I explore the Royal Botanical Garden. I’m going to walk. I feel good today.

Every city has some kind of tower you can go up in and spend money. Seems unnecessary. You can go online and get great pictures for free and they take them on the ideal day for taking pictures too.

“That’s not your picture. Again with the sissy outfits! And they tie you down so you won’t jump. Lame.”

Awful picture anyways. I’ve covered this before. Nothing like being there and seeing with your own two eyes.

“Right! Go skydiving on a clear day for the full experience.”

“Well, you can pay a small fee and walk a thousand steps up to the top of the bridge.”

That’s not my picture either.

“It’s called fair use. Free advertising for them!”

There are museums too. I didn’t have time for all that. Maybe someday.

“Someday.”

These pine trees have some really sharp and heavy pinecones. They are the size of a baseball and just as heavy.

“We should throw them at other kids! The ones in the school uniforms, they look weak! That will turn them into proper blokes.”

We will leave that up to them. Just because they wear school uniforms doesn’t mean they are sissies. And they might throw them back. We don’t want to get hit with one. That would be like getting hit with a snowball dipped in water and frozen solid.

“These kids have never seen snow. They won’t know what hit them!”

“Alright already.”

This is rather large.

“It might be a Pterodactyl.”

The ‘Open Air’ is a theater setup for motion pictures. There are outdoor bars setup there you can watch from and just places on the grass too. Maybe you can bring a blanket and your own wine.

“Maybe snails too?”

The backdrop, the screen, folds up out of the water from just behind this wall. It’s like being at a drive-in. Sort of. But nicer. And no cars.

You can walk from there to the Opera House.

“There is a ling selling gelato too.”

They call these the Monumental Steps.

“Why?”

“What does that say?”

“WHAT?!? These are sails! I didn’t know that.”

What did you think they were?

“Acoustical shapes. It is an opera house.”

It’s actually 3 opera houses. And The shape is a sail. Like a sailboat. Notice the sailboats all over the place? There are a lot of them.

“Ok, I see them now. And they LIGHT UP?!? For a free show? Every night??? What the heck have we been doing all week?”

I guess we may have missed something. We didn’t buy the tour book and nobody mentioned this small detail.

There is a show!

Walking around was nice. The overcast sky saved me from burning and kept the temperature down to about 75. I covered 10 miles probably. There are a lot of things to like about city life. Maybe even enough to offset the things I don’t like. Noise is a big problem for me personally but there are still quiet places to go. Never like the countryside though. A city just can’t be like that.

The opera house is quite a sight. It’s certainly iconic. I think recognizable by people all over the world. And when you are on the steps or in the harbor you can see just how grand it really is. There’s some of that culture that cities offer. I had a great time even though I didn’t see a lot of things.

“Nothing you would do differently?”

Well, I wasn’t out when it was dark. I probably missed a lot of city lights. I was thinking to do that before I got here. Get in the harbor and take pictures of the city at sunset and night. City lights are pretty. But it gets dark late here because it is summer. It isn’t completely dark until 10:00 and I fall asleep before then.

“Ling says your battery die like cell phone.”

That’s a good description. There might be a low power mode toward the end but it’s pretty sudden and total when I run down.

“Ling knows you well. You can’t keep any secrets from Ling.”

It’s hard.

“That just keeps getting funnier. Not.”

“Ok, that’s not bad.”