Wednesday 27/12
Jules did a vlog (video blog) for the first time – see below. It’s more lively. I’m really impressed by what he’s done. He did it entirely by himself, with our iPhones. I discovered it while inserting it in the post and I think that he did a great job. Of course, there are some spelling mistakes but, to his credit, he has always been in American schools so far. Isabelle is also impressed and she decided to vlog too.
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My summary of the day (more boring but the pictures are at the bottom, as usual):
We wake up at 9:30am!
Cereals breakfast in the hostel. Most of the other people prepare bacon and eggs.
In the hostel, there’s also a fridge with ‘free’ food, a books exchange section and even some clothes to sell for a couple of dollars. There’s also a terrace on the top floor with a superb view on the Opera House (when there’s no cruise vessel berthing in the harbour).
We walk on the Harbour Bridge, up to the first pylon. We don’t go up for the lookout; it will be for another day.
We walk on the quays of the harbour. Beautiful weather. There are a lot of people. We have a great view on the Opera House all the time. This building is superb. Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, it was opened in 1973. A surprising feature for us is that though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually feature a subtle chevron pattern composed of (more than 1 million) tiles in two colours: glossy white and matte cream.
We then do the walk in the nice Botanical Gardens, along Farm Cove. We stop for a quick lunch (sandwiches and salads) at the cafe of the Botanical Gardens. We visit the Calyx exhibition space, which houses the largest interior green wall in the southern hemisphere. Standing at 6 m high and stretching 50 m, it takes 18,000 plants to fill it.
We then go to Woolies to buy food for the boat “cruise” that we do today in the Sydney Bay. Alexis indeed organized a boat trip, on a catamaran, with 25 people.
We go back to the hostel to prepare the meat for the barbie and a salad.
We take the ferry to go to Rose Bay wharf, the starting point of the boat trip. We arrive just on time, at 5pm. I haven’t seen Alexis for 20 years. Our fathers are best friends. It’s great to see him again and to eventually meet his wife, Bénédicte, and his 2 children: Felix, 14, and Madeleine, 11. We spend a great time on the boat. The weather is nice. We stop for a swim on a beach, near the Taronga Zoo. Kids enjoy a lot; they have friends of their age (there are 10 kids), which is what they miss the most. All the kids are on the top of the boat, chatting and laughing. We have great views on the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Nice people, nice food, good booze and good music; great time! We do a nice barbie before going back to the quay at 9pm. We go back to Circular Quay by ferry. We had a great time; and the kids loved this boat trip. Thanks Alexis for organizing it!