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Sydney Opera Wednesday 2/27/08

We are experiencing morning creep. Each day it takes a little longer to get moving and once we are, we tend to move a little slower. Our excuse is that there is still a residual overcast this morning from our storms last night so why hurry. They are saying that the storm last night gave the Sydney suburbs the most rain in the last 20 years. It hardly got a passing mention on the news we were watching last night which was when the storm was actually happening. They obviously do not have the obsession that we have with the weather. It’s cereal, fruit and yogurt again this morning and if we play our cards right, we will be out of inventory at the end of the week.

We check out a French restaurant up the street for tonight and decide that it is more upscale than we intend. We have a nice place booked for Thursday and it does take a lot of energy to do the white tablecloth experience. Once or twice a week is more than enough. The Sydney Opera House is on our agenda for today and it is after 12:00 when we get there and sign up for the 1:00 tour. As we arrive, there is a fuss going on and a bunch of police and photographers outside the ladies’ restroom at the approach to the Opera. Apparently there is a group of female animal rights protesters who have been marching around wearing only panties and a smile and are now making themselves presentable for the press. Mary is disappointed that she has missed the excitement, and John is disappointed about missing a couple things too. And we had the camera.

We had tried to book the backstage Opera tour which starts at 7:00 AM and gets you into all the nooks and crannies, but it was full all week. All the later tours have to work around ongoing rehearsals and performances and are therefore limited in scope, but still interesting. There are a bunch of Californians on our tour and we have noticed a lot of Americans in Sydney. They have been few and far between on our itinerary so far, but Sydney is obviously a destination for groups and trip planners. There is also another cruise ship in harbor and we suspect that may be the source of these folks.

Our guide, Neville, tells us that the Opera is one of the most recognized buildings in the world and can be successfully identified by two-thirds of the world's population. Okay, we can handle a touch of hyperbole. He also tells us that famed Aussie, Dame Edna, has described the building as "nuns in a scrum." The building was begun in 1959 with a budget of 7 million and a scheduled completion in 3 years, and was finished in 1974 at a cost of 102 million. It is now going through a renovation with $350 million being spent on the main opera theater--about as much as the new Twins stadium in Minneapolis. Its revenues cover about 70% of its operating costs with the other 30% coming from the New South Wales citizens, but the general thought is that the big tourism dollars justify the public investment. Neville explains that, unlike America, Australia has never developed a history of philanthropy by the rich, and therefore, the state is the only source of funding for the arts.

There are five theaters in the Opera house, the largest of which are the concert hall and opera theater, with two smaller theaters and an experimental cabaret making up the mix, and the group hosts about 2500 performances each year. There are two matinees going on while we are there so we see the concert hall and cabaret. The stories are fun, the details are interesting and we decide that the experience is better than we expected.

It's 2:30 when we get to lunch at Jackson's on George (Mary and John both have the chicken schnitzel). The day is brightening and we have a leisurely lunch on the sidewalk while looking for protesters. No such luck. We take an after-lunch stroll through the Botanic Gardens and notice that the flower displays are definitely looking tired as we move towards fall. After a check of emails at the library we find that we have now been out for five hours--plenty. Let's start back for a book and a nap. We are now experiencing afternoon creep.

There is a little steak house that we can see from our balcony, and a few more restaurants a block away at King street wharf that we have not explored so we decide to pick one of the above for dinner tonight. As we are ready to leave the rain returns with high winds and both look like they will last a while. We have a few chunks of cheese and four beers in the fridge and a pack of crackers in the cupboard, so we just stay in and nibble. We are also experiencing dinner and evening creep. It's still a lot more than we would be doing at home.

Today's local headline: Cate joins PM's Team Sydney Morning Herald (The Prime Minister is seeking 1000 of the brightest Aussies to forge a comprehensive plan for the country's future. Cate Blanchette has agreed to head up the "Arts" segment of the team.)

The quote of the day: The Prime Minister, in announcing his plan for citizen input said. "we have to accept the concept that not all good ideas are originated by the government." Do ya think?