More Sydney

 Had to stock up, so we headed to Woolworth's.  Not the old five & dime some of us remember, but one of Australia's supermarket chains.  This was up hill about 4 blocks, right across from Sydney's Town Hall (pictured below).  Scott was on his scooter, and did real well on the hills.  We initially could not find the elevator in the store, so I left him on the ground floor and I took the escalator to the other floor.  While I was gone, one of the cashiers checked on him to make sure he was OK.  Reassured that he was just waiting for his wife, she went back to her post.  When I got back she showed us where the "lift" was and pointed us next door to the bottle shop so we could get some wine and restock our gin supply.

Sydney Town Hall

This was around 10 am, and it was already 73F... it later topped out at 86.  The guy on the steps is a security guard, standing his post at the bottom of the steps in a black suit.

We just discovered that Sydney is hosting a month-long PRIDE celebration.  When we caught the tram at the Town Hall station late in the afternoon, you almost couldn't see the steps it was so crowded with couples dressed for a party, so we assumed it was a mass wedding.  

We were in a party mode ourselves.  I had purchased tickets to Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House, and I'd made pre-performance reservations at one of two restaurants actually under the world-famous sails.  This is the 50th anniversary of the building of the Opera House and there are special celebrations going on.  Scott got all dressed up in a new jacket and dress slacks.  

Tired and hot from our walk to the opera house from the tram stop at Circular Quay, we opted not to sit in the 86 degree heat at the Portside Restaurant.  From our table just inside one of the entrances to the lower floor, we had a great time people watching.   We saw everything from t-shirts and shorts up through evening dresses... including some things we both said we couldn't unsee.  (Like one elderly lady as wrinkled as a shar pei dog who was wearing hot pants!)

The performance was in the theater, named for the Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland.  From the lobby you can go out on a deck which gives you an up close and personal look up at the sails.  Everyone seemed to be taking pictures of the sails and themselves -- so that's what we did.  

A Viking Cruise ship was departing,

The views from inside are of the harbour.  

We had seats in the Circle section of the balcony -- not quite at the top of the building, but close to it.  When the Opera House was built, the interior was all wood, but the acoustics were horrible.  They spent a lot of time and money to get new walls and ceiling, but the results were worth it.  The sound was incredible.  

We enjoyed the music, but the staging was geared for the PRIDE celebration... way too raunchy for our tastes.  The story of Don Juan, is one of a nobleman "deflowering" every woman he encounted, and then burning in hell for his actions.  Mozart alluded to that, but this director tried to show it.  I have seen the opera multiple times (from CSU's student production when I was a junior up through professional productions by the Met, the National Opera and the San Francisco Opera), and this was the most revolting.  

After the performance, it was hard to get out because a lot of people were stopping to take pictures of the PRIDE colors being projected on the sails.  We didn't stop to take THAT picture.