Down Under

We started the day walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge , which offers pretty stunning views of the harbor. Afterward we visited Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art .     The Royal Botanic Garden , established in 1816, includes trees, shrubs, and flowers from all over the world and provides stunning views of Sydney Harbour. The State Library of New South Wales includes the 1906 sandstone Mitchell Library. Inside the foyer, a floor mosaic replicates the Tasman Map drawn by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in the 1640s and now held in the library's collection. It depicts the Australian continent, still without an east coast, and its northern extremity joined to Papua New Guinea. There is a bar on the rooftop of the library. We ended the day by taking in an evening performance of Verdi's Aida at the Sydney Opera House , but no pictures to post, unfortunately.

 Our day started with a visit to the 1878 Great Synagogue on the west side of Hyde Park, described by our guide book as “the most beautiful in Australia, with domed towers flanking the wrought-iron gates, shining brasswork, a cedar-wood bimah and a big rose window facing Hyde Park.” Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get inside. We also visited the Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Memorial in Hyde Park, built in Art Deco style between 1932 and 1934 to commemorate the Australian soldiers who fell in the First World War. We happened to be there for a brief commemorative ceremony. Hyde Park also contains this statue of Captain James Cook, the British explorer and naval captain who made three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean in the late 18th century. He was famously killed by the Polynesians on his third voyage. Our next stop was the Australian Museum, Sydney’s version of the American Museum of Natural History. I was especially interested to see the Long Gallery, “Australi...

Click on each photo to enlarge it. Sydney Tower  Queen Victoria Building Town Hall St. Andrew's Cathedral Hyde Park and St. Mary's Cathedral Hyde Park Barracks   Sydney Tower and St. James Church   Sydney Hospital (the "Rum Hospital")   Commonwealth Bank of Australia with kangaroo and emu   General Post Office   Customs House   Sydney Harbour Bridge   Sydney Opera House   Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)   Sydney Opera House   Cadmans Cottage (oldest private house still standing in Sydney, built in 1816)   Sydney Opera House   Manly Beach