Arrival in Sydney and the Blue Mountains

As Marcee was initally excited about the train ride and even thought she would enjoy it, that soon changed. The reason Marcee strongly dislikes flying is because of turbulence, terrorist attacks, and the uncertainity of what will happen next; unfortunately for her, the train ride did not differ too much from a plane ride. There was constant turbulence; prior to our boarding the train Marcee asked me, "How do they prevent people from bringing bombs onto the train?" I clearly did not have a good or reassuring response to this. While I slumbered away during this long 12 hour train ride, Marcee laid awake, tossing and turning.

We arrived late in Sydney due to delays while traveling. Our friends Jo and Susan Koo hooked us up via email with one of their dear friends, Amy. She has been such a gracious hostess and very accomodating to us. She picked us up at the train station and took us to her apartment in Meadowbank, outside Sydney, to stay for our time in the city. After a quick freshen up, we headed via train into the city. We visited Circular Quay, where the Sydney Opera house is. As you exit the train station you can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and the ferry wharfs. The Opera house is magnificent. We walked around the outside and then took a kiddie train ride through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Yes, we took a little red choo choo train through the gardens. From the gardens, we went to the Rocks district. This is a cute little neighboorhood with many old buildings with unique architecture and shops. I walked across about half of the Harbour bridge while Marcee perused some shops. The view was lovely from the bridge. Upon arrival in the city center we discovered that Wicked, the Broadway Musical, is playing. Since we are both obsessed with musicals we wanted to check on the ticket prices. During our inquiry, we discovered there is lottery 2.5 hours prior to the show for front row tickets. 15 tickets are given away for 30 dollars a piece. We tried, but did not win. For those of you who know me (Jessica), you know how obsessed I am with Broadway Musicals and especially Wicked. While we waited, I sang along with every song playing over the loud speaker. We will try again Sunday...please keep your fingers crossed.

After our let down with the tickets, Amy came and met us. We went to Chinatown for some authentic food. We have gone from being with many white people and only white people in Bells Beach to being the in minority in Sydney surrounded by heaps of Asians! We ate some ice cream from Cold Rock, our equivalent is Cold Stone and headed back to Amy's.

Friday morning we slept in, since Marcee was quite fatigued from a night of no sleep the night prior and then made our way via train to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. We will stay in a hostel for one night here before returning to Sydney to explore more of the city. We visited Echo Point where the 3 sisters rock formations can be viewed. We walked to the scenic world which is an area where a cableway and railroad provide magnificient views of the mountains. The railway is the steepest in the world with a 52 degree incline. It is quite amazing. We walked through the mountains a bit, but will explore more tomorrow.

Pictures will follow in a few days.