Our destination was the Queen Victoria Building and the Galeries Victoria opposite it, but we stopped along the way to snap a few pix of the Sydney Town Hall. Across the street from the Town Hall is a Woolworths! Yes, they still exist! And kitty-corner to the Woolworths stands the Queen Victoria Building. Unfortunately, we were too close to it to get a good picture of it, but it's another great exammple of Victorian architecture, a sandstone beauty in the style of the Sydney Town Hall.
Walked along Oxford Street later in the morning. This is a main shopping street that starts near our hotel and runs east-ish out of downtown. It's route the Mardi Gras parade will follow on Saturday.
After lunch on Oxford Street, we hopped a bus back downtown and caught the Monorail for a tour around the western part of the downtown area. The monorail runs in a loop that snakes between the tall buildings downtown, running one storey up from street. Most buildings in the older commercial area have canopies that extend out over the sidewalk, making it very pleasant
to walk around. The monorail runs above these canopies out of sight. Really quite clever. The monorail covers a large-ish area to the west including Chinatown and Darling Harbour, which had been redeveloped in the 1980's into a major entertainment complex including an aquarium, IMAX theater and, of course, tons of bars and restaurants.Here's a picture of Colin on the platform of the monorail station where we got on.
Descending from the monorail, we decided it was time for a cocktail, then a fortifying nap, and so headed back to our hotel. Later, we're heading to Billy Kwong for dinner!
Later...
Marilyn and Dave, this is for you:
Billy Kwong's was wonderful! For you non-foodies, Billy Kwong is a restaurant here in Sydney owned by Kylie Kwong, who's a terrific chef with a show on the Food Network and a bit of a celebrity. We actually first went last night, but there was an hour wait for a table (they don't take reservations), and we were both famished then, so we decided to try again tonight.
Fortunately, we got there just before opening time at 6pm. There was a short line-up, but we got in okay. The tables are small and close together and we were seatied beside two guys from outside of Melbourne who are in Sydney for Mardi Gras. One of them is a firefighter who's been very busy the last couple of months fighting the wildfires. They are still burning quite strong and they were quite concerned yesterday as the weather in the Melbourne area was calling for high winds. So far, though, the news has said there hasn't been much more loss of life or property, which is great, but they were still evacuating some small towns within the fire zone.
Anyway, as luck would have it, Kylie herself was in the kitchen this evening! This, according to our dining companions who are semi-regulars, is a rare occurence. At any rate, the food was terrific! Colin and I shared mussels in a black bean/chilisauce and also Kylie's signature, white-cooked chicken (calling it poached chicken doesn't do it justice, but that's what it is, basically). All served with mountains of jasmine rice. Despite the obvious popularity of the place, there was no pressure on us to surrender our table after we had finished. Still, we didn't linger long. And, according to our dining companions, tipping, although not really frowned upon, is viewed as a bit of an embarrassment and isn't done. The prices reflect this, naturally, but imagine! No tipping! I just love this city!
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are off to Bondi Beach!
