Sydney

We had a lovely time in Sydney last weekend, despite the rain. Oh the rain. How it rained. Here in Canberra we never get that sort of rain, so I’m never really prepared for it when it happens (something similar happened to us when we went to Melbourne in March).

We arrived on Friday night and checked in to our lovely hotel, cheap thanks to lastminute.com. If you haven’t discovered that site yet you are really living under a rock. The hotel had an aquarium in the floor—I could walk above the fish—which was very cool but kinda weird. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of it. We ducked out to chinatown for some dinner—if you’re in the area, do try Zilver‘s food. It’s just amazing, like no Chinese I’ve had before. And their prawn dumpling short soup is absolutely to die for.

On Saturday morning we headed to the artsy suburb of Glebe, for the very cool Glebe Markets. These markets are full of creativity, good humour and alternative style. You can get everything from vintage clothing and indie jewellery to secondhand books and international food. I love to visit every time we’re in Sydney, and my wonderful and very patient husband is happy to take me. This time, like last time, there were some amazing offerings and I came home with some beautiful and funky stuff.

The only downside was the rain. My goodness it rained. The markets are held in a schoolyard and there were puddles, and overflowing drains, and waterfalls cascading from tarps onto unsuspecting heads. We bought an extra umbrella. We sheltered under whatever cover was handy at the time. We still got wet, wet, wet. But hey, it was the Glebe markets nonetheless, and I wasn’t going to let a little rain spoil it for me. I had several stallholders ask me why I was so chirpy given the terrible weather—I had to reply that I was from out of town, and today was the only chance I would have this year at the Glebe markets, so I was going to make the most of it! But I was still relieved when we were done, and could duck across the road to the warm and dry San Churro, for Spanish hot chocolate and churros.

From there we headed back to the city, where I discovered that Morris & Sons was having a sale. I mean, who can resist half-price wool? Anyway, there are now three potential sweaters in my stash.

I also scored the coolest, most 80s-tastic sneakers on sale at Adidas:

they’re now known as my fog shoes (as in, used for the same purpose as fog lights).

Saturday night and the reason we’d come to Sydney in the first place finally arrived. The Simon and Garfunkel concert! (really, it’s difficult to restrain myself from putting more exclamation points after that sentence). All I can say is that it was amazing to see them live, like a dream come true. I thought they would always just be one of those things I’d missed out on, like so many other events/fashions/bands/experiences, being too young. So when this opportunity came up I simply jumped at it—and I’m so glad I did.

They sang all the old songs, they told stories, they played some of their solo work, some of it accoustic and some with their very talented backing band. The venue was huge—we were up high and pretty far away—so I was glad of the large screens, the chance to really see it all happening. I was just so happy the whole time, and I feel really blessed that I had the chance to be part of it. I pulled out my record (yes, vinyl) of the Concert in Central Park yesterday, and it said on the front that that was ‘an historical event’. I think that term could easily be applied to the concert I saw last Saturday. And most importantly—Garfunkel still has the ginger ‘fro! :D

The rest of the weekend was slow and sweet after that. Sunday morning brought the sun, and a snatch of warm weather before we left Sydney (where did all that rain go?). We had brekky at a cute little place in Redfern called Strangers with Candy. Their website goes on about their great service, but for me the decor and the food were the stars. Do try it if you’re in the area—it’s a little hard to find but worth the effort. Their homemade hollandaise was the best, and lightest, I have ever tasted.

We stopped for lunch at Lerida Estate on the way home. I guess you could say it’s on the shores of Lake George, but that seems a bit odd since Lake George has been dry ever since I’ve lived in the area—people graze sheep and cows on it now. They make a very nice Pinot Gris there, and everything else I tasted was lovely too. I didn’t realise but apparently the area is also very big for truffles. It was truffle weekend and they had truffle-dog demonstrations and special menus. One man was buying some truffle while we were there—twenty grams cost him sixty dollars! I hope he enjoyed it.

Anyway that’s about it—sorry for foisting such a long post on you after a bit of a drought. More knitting news soon!