Vivid Sydney

Another lovely weekend

Eeks! Sorry about the delay of the last post... it is now one day later and I have my new weekend update.  I will try and be more on top of things!  Last week was just a bit strange.  It was great to have a bit of a break from running after all the training leading up to the half- marathon.  You would think it would have given me a lot more free time to catch up on things, but I don’t think I was really that productive!  Although, I did finally have time to catch up with a bunch of friends over lunches and coffee dates, which was quite nice particularly with the nice weather we are having.

Nice days around the harbour waiting for the ferry.

I did manage to finally make it to Paddy’s Market in preparation for the trip back to the states and stocked up on all sorts of random souvenir things to give to people back home.  Hopefully I have a bit more structure to life this week since there actually is a bunch of stuff I need to get ready before we fly back.  I will also try to put up a few new recipes… I used my fun little doughnut pan last week to try some new recipes out and the hubby approved so get ready!

Thankfully, this weekend was much more relaxed and stress free than the previous.  Friday we had a low key date night at a Thai restaurant we had never been to.  Thai in general here in Sydney is pretty awesome.  Completely different than what I thought was Thai food in the US… that I think was more “Americanized” and this (usually) is the authentic stuff here.  Anyways, we have one of these Entertainment Books that you buy through charities and then saves you money at a bunch of restaurants.  The place was called The Tall Lemongrass in Crows Nest, and I highly recommend it if you are in the area. 

Saturday we spent with friends at their place for a birthday celebration.  As I have mentioned, living here we have become close with a lot of other expats from all over the world.  This particular group was 3 other French couples, a Belgian and us.  Good times!  It has been wonderful throughout our time in Sydney to spend time and learn about other cultures and what their Australian experience is like in comparison to our own.  I have found it has given me a different perspective on life to see so much commonality with people who come from different backgrounds.  In typical French fashion, the day included lovely breads, pastries, champagne and foie gras (which, much to my dismay, I realized through our French friends serving it to us on several occasions, I do in fact love).

On Sunday night we had a Living Social voucher for a harbour cruise it at night.  There is a festival of sorts going on in Sydney for the next few weeks called Vivid where they have all sorts of interactive light exhibits along with other shows/events.  The highlight for a lot of people is the light displays on the Opera House and other buildings.  We figured it would be a good way to see everything (and an excuse to be on a boat!).  Since we have been disappointed many times with the Living Social and Groupon vouchers in Australia, we didn’t have high hopes for the boat and dinner itself.

We ended up being pleasantly surprised!  It was a really nice boat with large windows and pretty solid buffet style food.  Our friends who took the same cruise on Friday night gave us the inside scoop to get there early to get a table to eat at- so us and another couple started up the que at the pier and it worked out well.  We even met the owner while waiting!

The cruise itself was fantastic and spent most of the 2 ½ hours in and around Circular Quay so we could enjoy all the lights.  Here are some of the nicer pics I took… although it is hard to fully appreciate without seeing all the different moving projections. 

View of the skyline.  A lot of the buildings had different images moving with the lights.

The Opera House with light projection.  I was hoping for a bunch of really bright colors... it was a bit more modern art style this year than last apparently.  Still pretty exciting to see like this though.

Me and the hubby enjoying the views from the top deck of the cruise.

When the cruise was done, we got out and walked around Circular Quay.  It was kind of a mad house with huge crowds everywhere.  However, it was completely worth weaving our way around everyone to see a lot of the exhibits.

This was my favorite!  Angler fish mini cars that drove around... so fun.  

Me and all the hoards of kids seemed to love it :)

Really pretty chandelier suspended over the harbour.

Yes, this is in fact a giant tick-tack-toe game.

Not sure what this is... I just thought it looked nice with the buildings lit up in the back.

This was one of the best displays on the the Museum of Contemporary Art building.  

Now we are on to our last full week before our first trip home.  I’m starting off right: first, by staying on top of posts for the blog (not a repeat of last weeks delay!).  Second, sitting here writing said blog post, with a free smoothie (excellent promotion: free smoothie at Boost today just for being named Kelly- woo!) and looking at this view. 

Not a bad start to the week :)