I woke at 5:30. Not as sore as I feared but plenty of aches. I took another hot shower to ease the muscles. This was a typical morning. Blog, breakfast, blog, head out the door.
We were heading for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It has allot of native (aboriginal) art and classic english art. Neither Mike nor I are much into modern art. On the way, we thought we'd walk through the botanical gardens.
It rained quite a bit last night and was still lightly sprinkling as we left. We made our way down to the docks and took the glass elevator up to the highway level the same as we did last night for the bridge, but this time we turned left and quickly found ourselves descending into the gardens. The first thing we saw was a a large lawn filled with what looked like ancient roman ruins, except they were all obviously made of cement. I guess that's an old english thing to make fake ruins like that.
The gardens were really nice. We walked around reading the notes on various plants and trees, then stopping in the gazebos spread around the gardens. Some of the trees were absolutely massive with branches reaching out 40 to 50 feet around the tree.
We kept meandering in the direction of the museum and reading various displays and signs. When I checked google maps to make sure we were on the right path, I noticed something called the Calyx on the way. The Calyx didn't open for 10 minutes but the cafe next door did. We got a couple diet Cokes, and a couple living pastries and sat to wait for it to open. In the meantime it started to rain so stopping was a good thing.
The Calyx turned out to be a large semicircular wall completely decorated with colorful plants. They form some patterns with interesting designs in them. There is also another series of plants all around the room. I took another picture that would be really nice as a background in video meetings.
After about 10 minutes the rain stopped we resumed our journey towards the museum. It wasn't very far. We started with a more modern and Aboriginal art building. The Aboriginal art was a little more modern but it was very interesting to watch. Lots of dock and line paintings, paintings on bark, and wood carvings.
The other building had more classical paintings and sculptures. We joined a tour group as we walked in. The guide showed us 2 paintings by the same artist, one landscape from England before coming to Australia and another in Australia. The English landscape has a small town in the background and hill behind that. But the Australian landscape had vast fields, then small foothills and mountains way off into the distance. She said it's a recurring theme with many artists that after visiting Australia they add EXPANSE to their paintings. Much more depth of field and not so compacted.
We saw a sculpture by an artist named Ron Mueck. He started as a sculpture for TV and film. He worked at Jim Henson's creature shop and worked on the film Labrynth. He switched to art around 1996. The sculpture was titled "Old Woman in Bed" and over emphasizes the small size of the woman and the apparent tiny size of her body though hidden under the covers. It triggered memories of my Grandma Banks when she was was suffering severely with dementia. Not a horrible memory, but the memory of visiting her, her hugs and loving caresses even though she'd forgotton how to speak. It also reminded me of my Grandma Jones though she was sharp as a tac till the day she died, but she'd grown frail and easily got cold. Finally it reminded me of Nannette's mom Alice who lived with us till shortly before her passing. When she slept, she clung to the bead covers and curled up for warmth. She'd never use the heated blanket we got her. "I aint no pansy" she used to say. All loving memories triggered by a highly detailed piece of art. I had to take a few minutes.
We followed for a while as she showed a plate depicting the sacking of Rome with the gods on one side of the plate and St Peter on the other side. She showed a few other pieces but she was taking 5 to 10 minutes per piece and we'd be all day just to see one wing. So we bugged out. It's hard to describe art but I enjoyed the museum.
We stopped after a while and got a seat in their small cafe. We got a beet salad, green beans and a big serving of chips. We were heathens and asked for ketchup despite them providing a garlic aioli (mayonaise) to dip the chips in. Ketchup was so much better and the fries were hot and crispy. It was a great light lunch rather than most of what we've been having.
We walked around for another 30 minutes after lunch, then got an Uber back to the hotel. We weren't there long before we left again. This time we caught an Uber out to Bondi beach. There is a cliff walk going up and around the point overlooking the rocks and waves. When we left the hotel and still cloudy and gloomy but by the time we got to the beach bright and sunny verging on hot. We slathered a bit of sunscreen just to be safe.
The wind was really blowing as we walked. I had on my new canvas hat and had my chin strip on and cinched fairly tight but the wind still kept blowing my hat off. We stopped every 400 meters or so to take a break on a bench and watch the waves. After yesterday I didn't want to over do it and get cramps on the plane ride home. Every beach we saw was closed with big breakers rolling up on the sand or crashing on the rocks surrounding the beach.
When we rounded the point over the Tamarama Cliffs the wind went from minor tornado to full on hurricane. There was no chance to wear a hat and even trying to stand upright was a challenge. Mike stood out near the edge for a bit and had to stagger out and back taking careful steps to avoid being blown over. We stayed for a bit watching the wind and waves. When we turned to continue we also noticed the other people struggling up and around the point in each direction. That was interesting to watch as well to see the different ways everyone tried to deal with the wind. There were couples who plugged each other, groups who clunged each other, experienced runners who just put their head down and muscled through, and single tourists who turned around backwards and tried to walk with her back to the wind to make it through.
We finally quit gawking at other people and headed down the trail ourselves. I chose the manly stagger method of getting through the wind. There was more wind and waves and the occasional massive breaker shooting water up near the trail but the point had been the most interesting.
It was mid-afternoon and several hours since lunch so we stopped to grab a quick snack. My habit is to get an ice cream in the late afternoon to overcome any fatigue, so I got one and have Mike take a pictures so I could send it to my riding buddy John.
We ordered an Uber back to the hotel but it was going to take 20 minutes to arrive. We were sitting at a bus stop so got to see the stream of people coming and going.
Backup hotel we offloaded gear and almost immediately left again, this time to go the Sydney Tower. It's something similar to the space Needle over Seattle. A big tall tower with an observation deck at the top.
We spent over an hour slowly walking around taking pictures and identifying various places we've been. We're in a big city so there was some smog haze here and there, but it was really beautiful to look out.
I've been trying to figure out how to use Google Gemini to analyze pictures and things so I kept pointing my camera at buildings and asking it to identify what I'm looking at. At one point it said I was in London overlooking Victoria station, so it still isn't flawless. I also don't like that it insists on reading things aloud to me rather than just showing text on the screen but I'll probably figure it out eventually.
We grabbed a couple sodas and sat watching the views and the people for about half an hour before we decided it's time to leave. We've been told that Sydney has the largest Lego store in the world and it was right by us so we decided to walk over and see. It is a massive store and they had some interesting displays but we didn't stay very long. I have no way of taking any of them home anyway.
We grabbed another Uber but this time we headed for Chinatown. For our last meal on this trip you decided to eat authentic Korean BBQ. The Chinese market we've been in the day before had four stories above it. Only the very bottom floor was the chaotic marketplace. Everything above was a beautiful modern shopping mall. And the top floor was all restaurants.
It took us a while to find Kogi. There were so many Asian themed restaurants, karaoke bars, anime bars, and other forms of Oriental entertainment that Kogi blend it into the background. But we did find it.
I've had lots of Korean food over the years but never been to an authentic Korean BBQ will you cook your own food over charcoal at your table. We ordered a couple different cuts of beef, some potstickers, and cheesy creamed corn.
Mike said they were going to bring out some BonChon and I thought, someone's grandmother? My son-in-law's mother is Japanese and our grandkids call her Boshan. So even though it's not funny to anyone else it was hilarious to me.
Bonchon turns out to be kimchi and other appetizers and side ingredients around the main barbecue. I'm a big fan of kimchi so I loved it.
They brought out our charcoal grill. It was a big round bowl filled with super hot charcoal. They said it into a hole in the center of our table, place a wire grill over it, and pulled down a vent to suck away the smoke. You could feel the blistering heat from the charcoal.
We started cooking the meat. The first cut was beef ribs that have been sliced into one long thin strip with the rib bone still attached to one end. The meat instantly started sizzling and popping and a heavenly smell came off as the fat rendered and gripped on the charcoals. It only took about 2 minutes per side before the meat was ready to be. That is some hot fire.
Mike used small tongs and a pair of scissors to slice the meat into bite size chunks. I placed a few chunks of meat on a lettuce leaf, then added some kimchi and gochujang hot sauce on it, wrapped it up and ate it like burrito. It was awesome. The meat was super tender and flavorful. Sorry if this is old hat to you, but it was new to me.
We cooked more meat, at the pot stickers and corn and just kept going. Mike ordered some pork belly (uncured fat bacon slices) and we roasted those as well. We didn't try to crisp them but did get a bit of color. I had to tap out before all the pork belly was gone but finished up very happy.
Once we were back at the hotel we started packing. I got much of this blog done. I have a bad habit of leaving the last few days of a blog undone so I was trying really hard to keep going. I write all of the text for any completed day before I try to add pictures. Only when I'm caught up on text do I then try to add pictures to a blog and publish it. I also try to edit as I write and I seldom re-read the blog before publishing. If you spot little errors, that's why. I do edit and correct or even add things as I remember them.
Steps 15,500 or 7.19 miles
TRAVEL HOME
We were up and prepping to leave the hotel by 5:00. Our flight isn't until 9:30 but Delta warned us that with the partial US shutdown of TSA and Passport control we would be safer to arrive 3 hours early. We took an Uber to the airport and arrive before 7:00. We made it through security pretty quick so we went to the Delta lounge to eat some breakfast. It was pretty standard breakfast buffet food.
For our plane ride out, Mike had used 2 Delta One passes to get us first class seats. He said he wanted us well rested and able to start touring the minute we got off the plane. It was nice and that's exactly what we did. No Jet lag, no aches and pains from cramped seats, no nothing but go go go.
But for the ride home, he got us business class. Still better than the peons in the back (of which I am always one). Seats with more leg room, recline farther, and a bit wider. He couldn't get us 2 aisle seats across the aisle from each other, so he got aisle seats one in front of the other. But each day he checked, both our rows were empty. So the last day we gambled and moved me to Mike's row, aisle seat with 2 empty seats beside us hoping we'd have the whole row to ourselves. BUT NO SUCH LUCK.
We boarded and took our seats, then toward the end of boarding, 2 young women came in and told us they had the 2 center seats. DARN. And to add insult to injury, the one by Mike was coughing, sniffling, and sneezing like typhoid mary. The rows in front and behind us still had empty middle seats which really made Mike grumpy. But luckily, they filled before takeoff.
So we spent much of the flight texting back and forth rather than talking and joking. But Mike slept almost 9 hours so it didn't really matter all that much. I took a couple of over the counter sleeping pills and managed 4 hours of sleep total. I just listened to an audio book and played freecell to entertain myself. I tried a couple movies but just couldn't get into one.
In LAX we headed for Global Entry (a faster way of going through immigration) but it wasn't working. As I mentioned earlier, TSA is currently un-funded and the terminals hadn't been booted up yet. We skipped over to the normal entry line and made it through in less than 5 minutes. Then, again, we headed for the Delta Lounge for a mediocre buffet breakfast.
We talked and chatted for about an hour till it was time for Mike to head to his gate. It's been over 12 days of hard core touristing. Here's a recap of the statistics.
Mike headed off to his plane and I moved over to a table to work on the blog some more. I don't remember how much I got done, but the hour was soon gone and time for me to head to my plane.
