Brisbane

From Sydney our ship sailed North along the East coast of Australia. Next stop after two days was the city of Brisbane (pronounced "Brizbun").  Brisbane is a large city of 2.2 million with a very modern looking city center.  I have stated before in my earlier posts that I love modern , contemporary architecture, and Brisbane was not going let me down. I love it when contemporary architecture is taken to an extreme!

Sydney is about 33 degrees South of Equator just about the same as San Diego is North of Equator about 33 degrees.  Brisbane on the other hand is 27 degrees South of Equator, which makes it similar to Tampa, Florida in Northern hemisphere.  In Southern hemisphere Spring begins in October.  So it was already quite hot in Brisbane during late November.

In Brisbane we had the pleasure watching a traditional dance ceremony of the aborigine people.  In the picture notice what our modern diet has done to these once slim and hardy people.

  

The best part of the visit to Brisbane was seeing the rivalry between the Aussies and the English.  You see, at that time a cricket test match was going on between the two countries.  A test match lasts for five days.  After showing a stellar performance on the first day the match the captain of England's team had bragged a lot.  However, on the second day the Australian team excelled to new heights.  It was fun to see planes flying over the stadium with banners taunting the captain of the English team.

From Sydney Apartment to Cruise Ship

After spending 17 wonderful days exploring Sydney we returned our apartment keys to the owner.  Our cruise ship Celebrity Millennium was ready and waiting for us at the Sydney harbor (Circular Quay).
The question I was asking myself was, would I like to live in Sydney?  Sydney is a great city and I like it very much, but San Diego is even better.  
This experience of living in Sydney verified my suspicion that in order to know a city or country one has to live there for an extended period of time.  We learned a lot in 17 days but we could have learned a lot more in 17 weeks. Bottom line, I am going to try out living in other cities.  At this point I am not adventurous enough to live in a non-English speaking country.  So it will have to be another city where English is generally spoken.
With a heavy heart we said good-bye to Sydney as our ship sailed away parading in front of us gorgeous evening views of Circular Quay, tall buildings of the CBD, the harbor bridge, and the Opera House.  We will have to come back again one day.

Sydney Opera House

No trip to Sydney is complete without a visit the iconic opera house.  We had visited the opera house on a previous trip to Sydney but the design and construction of the opera house are so unique that I had to take the tour again.  For those who are interested in the engineering and the architecture of the opera house, did you know that the petal like parts of the flower like structure are actually different size segments of a sphere?
The idea of installing an opera house at the bay in Sydney was conceived in the late 1940s.  A design competition was launched in 1955.  The winner was a Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, who had not followed the rules of submission and had submitted a simple sketch to describe his idea.  Construction began in 1959 without the full design having been completed.  The original estimate was for completion in four years at a cost of AUS $7 million.  After many challenges, it took 14 years to complete at a cost of AUS $102 million!  The opera house was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, for which the architect wasn't invited and his name wasn't even mentioned.  However, the Sydney Opera House Trust started a reconciliation process with the architect in 1999, which led to him being honored before his death in 2008.  We attended a symphony conducted by the famous conductor Vladimir Ashkenazys on November 15.

Did you know that the Sydney Harbor Bridge is not only a famous landmark but also a challenge to those not faint of heart?  Can you see the people who have reached the top of the bridge in the photographs below?

What we call "downtown" in America is called CBD (Central Business District) in most parts of the world.  One end of Sydney's CBD is called Circular Quay (pronounced kay).  Circular Quay is where all the ferries depart to various harbors of Sydney, multitude of bus routes and commuter trains begin at this point,  and Sydeny Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are in the vicinity.