Sydney

We spent 4 days in Sydney, the weather was cool, (16 degrees) cloudy, and rainy - it is winter.  The locals are wearing big winter coats and boots, we look a little out of place in our light raincoats, but there is no way we could fit anything bigger in our bags.  Luckily our hotel has heating!  We did a 3 hour walking tour of Sydney,  learning all about the early days. We all enjoyed the stories about how the hospital was built on the sale of rum (it only took one year to raise the $),  the Japenese mini-subs in the harbor during WW2, the construction of the Sydeny Harbor Bridge and the building of the Opera House. 

Here is Sydney Bridge - affectionately called the 'coat hanger bridge'.  It was built in the 1930's - 6 lanes for cars and 2 lanes for trains...they were building for future way back then as no one really even lived on the other side of the harbor yet. 
 

Cole on the bridge - he is straddling the center point.  It only took about 1 hour to walk across the bridge and back.

The Opera House - it is really stunning in person.  The architect of the Opera House was fired before it was completed due to being over time (several years) and over budget (700% over budget).  When the design was chosen for the Opera House the architect, a young man from Holland, had no plans yet on how to make the sails.  It took 16 designs before they figured it out - they are made of concrete 'ribs' that were poured on site.  The tiles are self-cleaning, alternate between glossy and rough in texture to prevent too much glare.  Gutters are located in the floor surrounding the building, not on the roof, to maintain the wonderful lines.  The inside of the building is lovely as well, many large windows bringing the harbor view into the building.  The stages are extremely small. The wings are so small (< 1 meter) that during the ballet season the walls are lined with mattresses so when the dancer leap off the stage they don't hurt themselves when they crash into the walls!  In the past they hired men to catch the dancers as they leaped off stage - crazy!