sydney-day 4

Day 4
the australian wildlife - so far, all that i have seen are birds, but they are pretty spectacular.
there is the cookabura (which i am no doubt misspelling) - there were 4 in the tree this morning outside Lizzy’s place, they are large about the size of a macaw, but they look more like a kingfisher. BUT they sound like a monkey!!! ooo--aaa--ooo completely takes you by surprise when you first hear it.

then there are cockatoos just flying around - like flocks of crows back in the states - amazing - but they sound completely awful!! i guess i have never heard one at the pet store before, oh-my, i can not imagine owning one!!

Lizzy and i head back into the city around 12 o;clock for lunch. Lizzy knows of this great pizza shop for exotic pizza and then we are going to go on a walking tour for a bit. i had decided to pack all of my camera gear, about 20 pounds worth into a rolling case to make my life easier...oops, my bad, mistake # 642. in order to get to the pizza place we had to climb these old stone 'excorcist' stairs. well so much for not having to carry it...by the end of the day i must have carried it up and down 1,000 stairs, it became a joke after a while. but since i am not going to the gym, this should definitely count as my workout :)

the pizza place was great and tucked into this old hotel called (wait for it...)
the Australian Hotel, boy they really slaved over that name huh??

we had a half crocodile/half lamb pizza - completely delicious and it struck me as just a little odd that we were having a notoriously ferocious animal and the worlds most docile animal on the same plate together. there must be some cosmic message there but I am not sure what...hmmm

we walked all over the city, with the guide book that we mostly ignored because that would imply planning and we can't have that!!! haha

took pictures, window shopping, lovely!

i know that i will be coming back, it is just a wonderful place and i need another month of walking and taking pictures to really capture the feel for the place.

our ultimate destination today is the art gallery for special evening exhibits. just to point out, there are WAY more hills in sydney than i would have thought, and perhaps they are more noticeable when dragging 20 lbs, up 45 degree inclines - because no matter which way we seemed to go it was ALWAYS uphill. i need a llama!!

thinking we are supposed to go to the royal gardens - we show up at 5:00 ... cool we are early (something neither one of us is known for) but there are signs everywhere saying it closes at 5 and penalties and prosecution for trespassers. hmmm. ok...

time to pull out the guide book...look up the museum...oh what a surprise we have to go up another hill to get there.

at the top of the hill it is just beginning to rain. no worries, we are right on time, there it is across the street Lizzy says. cool - we cross the street - awesome we found the...
library.

time to pull out the guide book again...look up the museum...oh no - it is just a little farther this way. 'are you sure' i ask
'yeah, i had trouble finding it last time, its this way'
ok, and off we go

several blocks later...
'wait - this doesn't look familiar' Lizzy says

time to pull out the guide book...look up the museum again...oh dear - 'i think it is back that way'
ok, and off we go...getting soggier by the minute. :)

this time we turn up the street with the library and ask directions, since obviously just using the guide book isn't working for us.

the guard points us in the right direction and we can see the museum - awesome! there it is...at the top of that hill....way over there. great!! bring it on!!

the museum was great, cool exhibits on middle eastern art, japanese ceramics, aboriginal art. cool - and a rare musical treat, indian opera - who knew there was indian opera.

we had a simple ride home on the bus, and i did not fall asleep this time and we are thinking it will be an easy cab ride home, since it is a little late we dont want to walk through the park.

well, wouldn't you know....

we walk up to the taxi and the guy hops out and says he doesn't want to take my luggage.
are you kidding? what should i do with it, just leave it here?? what kind of taxi doesn't take luggage!!

'fine' i say (and not too politely) 'we will take another cab.' there is a string of 5 or 6 of them - no problem! what was funny was that he actually looked puzzled as to why we didn't get in!!

next cab:
we get in
Lizzy ' can you take us to (she gives the address)'

cabbie ' why didn't you go with the other guy'

Lizzy ' why do you care'

cabbie ' well what happened'

Lizzy 'he was rude and didn't want to take our luggage, can you take us to 14 crown street?'

we are looking at each other like - WTF?

cabbie 'i'm not local'

Lizzy-exasperated 'ok, i will give you directions. turn around and go the other way.'

cabbie 'no, not here'

Lizzy 'but your going the wrong way'

cabbie grumbles

Lizzy ' you need to turn around your going the wrong way'
finally he turns around - she tell him where to turn, he takes the first turn.
she says to go straight, he turns right

Lizzy 'stop, stop where are you going - i told you to go straight!'

cabbie pulls over (the meter is still running) 'you said this road'

Lizzy 'no, i said go straight, you asked for directions i am giving them to you'

cabbie 'i can't go straight'

Lizzy - incredulous now 'we are not paying for this, you are not going the right way, you need to go back!'

cabbie - now yelling at Lizzy 'i'm not local, there are 2200 roads in this book i cant remember them all!!!'

Lizzy 'why are you driving here if you dont know where to go! we are so not paying for this.'

cabbie, still yelling the same thing

Lizzy,' come on Suz, we are walking!'

Go Lizzy!!! :)

we climb over the barricade (he picked a great place to stop) with my luggage and walk home, luckily the irritation gave us the extra energy we needed to get home quick!!

how do we find these people!!! :)

i love travel - hehe