Sydney
Trip Start
Jan 2003
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200
Trip End
Dec 2003
Sydney,
Australia
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Our day. Or more precisely, the day when Kirsty and I said we'd pay for everything to say thanks to my mum for coming out and for a belated birthday present that we missed whilst away. Negelecting the temptation to visit Sydney's free attractions the day commenced with a fascinating trip to Sydney's excellent aquarium. Stacked with marine life from all around Australia we surprised ourselves with our ability to name fish but like everyone else, we spent the majority of our time being entertained by scary-looking sharks and elegant manta wrays in the special walk through section. There is also one side of one of the aquariums (aquarii?) that boasts stadium seating for the throngs of people enterained by the view of a virtual wall of shimmering silver provided by one particular breed of fish. Activity during the rest of the day was at a minimum (not because we were paying - we even got a water taxi at one point) but because we had an early evening start to get dinner and then attend a certain Sydney building to see Verdi's Otello
Sydney Relections 1
.I'd never seen an opera previously and I think it will be a while before I see another. Admittely, most buffs seemed to agree that it was not a great performance so maybe my judgment has been clouded. I did manage to not only stay awake for the entire performance but also follow the story. This in itself was not that much of a feat given the presence of surtitles (subtitles above the stage) which made for Kindergarten reading material punctuated with infinite exclamation marks. The problem I have with opera (in my extensive experience) is that it just seems plain stupid for me to be sat watching two (not small) grown men in knee high leather boots singing to each other in a language I don't understand about a flowery handkerchief. Maybe I'm uncultured but I'm honest to myself and while I'm glad I went (for the been there, done that checklist) I certainly won't remember it as one of mt best ever nights out.
