Friday, September 22, 2006

Feeling Manly



Sydney, 09/21

We dropped Maya and Tim off at the airport today. It felt odd to part after three weeks, a bit like sending the parents off back home while staying on vacation, and I told Catherine as much. “Let’s go get drunk,” was her well-timed and much-needed response. So we did.


We stopped to run an errand or two on the way down to the water,

then took the ferry from Circular Quay out to Manly, taking in the sights of Sydney Harbor.


Disembarking at the wharf, we stopped for a drink and some sushi, arriving at the beach at the height of the golden hour. Kids played

Old men fished and young blokes surfed.

We sat in the sand and watched seagulls scavenge in the golden glow of the setting sun.

We opted to take a water taxi back to Sydney instead of the ferry, and stopped on the way back to the wharf for a small bottle of champagne.

The taxi came and met us at the bar. The ride was amazing.

We had a swell driver (pun intended)

who, at Catherine’s request, took us out and under the Harbor Bridge

by Luna Park

so that we could enjoy the spectacular view of the city lit up at night,

from the Bridge to the Opera House,

giving us time to finish the bottle

and feel the wind in our hair (hee hee).

Aussies rock my world, and on the best of nights, my boat.

Back at the mooring, we headed straight for the Oyster Bar,

right next to the Opera House (the scene of our first night’s welcome to Sydney), and enjoyed oysters and (more) champage.

Sated, at least so far as food was concerned, we left downtown, which now looked a bit like this:

and caught a cab back to the house, stopping on the way for yet another bottle of champagne and the added accoutrements of strawberries and whipped cream.

You should have seen the look on Dorothy’s (Catherine’s mum) face when Catherine told her to close her eyes and open her mouth. I don’t think I’d ever heard such words uttered by one family member to another (except for that one time in Kentucky). Daughter rewarded mother with a large globbing mouthful of whipped cream.

At this point, needless to say, we were seeing stars.

However, as the French surely have a knack for their bubbles, we awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for a day at the beach, even if still just a tad bit pissed.

No comments: