Day Three - walking tour of Sydney city

It's Day 3 and we've hit the ground running...quick unload of luggage into the storage room at the hotel, bathroom break and we're off!

In Hyde Park we made our first stop at the ANZAC war memorial.  ANZAC stands for the Australia and New Zealand Army Core.

The downtown core is full of history as you can imagine. 

St. Mary's Cathedral is beautiful with their huge archways and stained glass windows...

We walked further and stopped at the Hyde Park Barracks which were converted into a museum.  

 As you can see, we are getting some showers...need to pull out the coats. Mr. Finnigan is standing guard at the gates...

The history of Sydney specifically touches on the number of convicts that were here and the establishment of the penal colony in Sydney.  I really enjoyed the mix of historic buildings and sky scrapers in the downtown area as it reminds me of Vancouver city. 

Just past the Sydney Hospital we came upon a protest.  The just of it was they were protesting their right to protest...the gov't is trying to pass legislation to limit the type and location in which people can protest...interesting and concerning considering they are looking to alter the peoples freedom if speech essentially.

We've made our way to Circular Quay for lunch, Connor, Matt, Rajan and I stopped at a nice spot along the wharf in the open air. It's muggy and warm but we just spent the last hour getting soaked in a rain storm...remember that March in Australia is fall and the rainy season. Good thing I had a spare T-shirt in my backpack! 

Thought this photo of the bun that came with Matt and Connor's lunch was rather funny...seriously large!

The harbour cruise is next on our list and the sun is just starting to break through...lots of luck with Mother Nature today thankfully.  The views are amazing from the water and Sydney Harbour is definitely the most beautiful harbour I've seen to date.

 

Maria and I grabbed a drink and our Starbucks mugs to bring home...did a little browse in the harbour shops before our dinner on the Wharf at Casa. 

Yup, authentic Kangaroo testicles bottle opener...need it!

Onto dinner, I chose the chicken parmigiana...great Segway from testicles to dinner right?!!  EF dinners are usually adequate...not usually extraordinary...

Walk back through the city and Hyde Park to check out our hotel rooms finally!  The Travelodge never looked so good...we are tired!!!

Day Two - In the Air

Nice big aircraft...relatively comfy seats for a 15 hour flight but lucky for most of us it wasn't a full plane. Matt and I were in a group of four seats...we both popped a sleeping pill and were out an hour into the flight.  I woke up with 5 and a half hours left so not too bad!  Drugs are a definite must for the next long haul flight for me!

Aircraft Live Cam...gotta love it right?!! It's kinda creepy but cool at the same time.

 Cool cats...looking no worse for wear after a 15 hour flight right?!!

After clearing Australian customs we met our EF tour director,  Sladjana...or Sladj for short. She is super informative and very lovely.

We headed to our hotel straight from the airport and unloaded our luggage. Shuffled our belongings and headed out to start our walking tour with Sladj leading the way.

Onto Day Three.....

Day One - YVR to LAX

Sydney Australia here we come...it'll take us two days to get there but I'm sure it'll be well worth the hours it takes to travel there from BC.  Why not start the journal today, right ?!!  

 

Time to weigh in...Matt and I are under the 50 lb limit but Connor had the heaviest bag in the group...pretty sure he's voted off the Yale Survivor before we even leave...reminds me of Marissa when we went to Europe.

We are currently sitting on the aircraft awaiting our Air Canada personnel's diagnostics of the computer system! We've been advised it will be at least 30 minutes for them to assess and fix the problem before we can take off...

When travelling with 23 students and 7 adults like we are...just getting through the check in and baggage drop off...security check points and then customs for our flight to LA took the best part of two hours. We are like a human slinky working our way through the beautiful YVR airport. 

We finally get clearance to take off and little did I know that we were starting the trip on a PNE ride...one of the roughest take offs in the history of take offs for me...we got some 'air' big time...was kinda white knuckling it... Not gonna lie!

The fun part is arriving here in LAX (insert sarcasm)...we have been waiting for about five and a half hours so far...hanging for four hours in one terminal...then once our gate was announced we got to leave the terminal...WALK about 20 minutes with Mr.Finnigan weaving us through the different entrances and finally we get into the Robert Bradshaw terminal and have to re-clear security again...except that there's like maybe four hundred people in front of us...no problem...we got this...all of us through and onto gate 154 for another two hour wait...we are bonding and eating, it's all good! 

 

Another slight delay with one big plane blocking our Quantas parking spot...so we are waiting for them to get pushed back and out so that our waiting craft can pull in...the boys and I had some yummy burgers during our wait,  they checked their phones and recharged them for the next flight and played some cards. 

 

It's almost midnight and we are ready to start our 15 hour flight to Sydney! 

Bergen - Day Twenty-Three

Last day in Norway! It's another HOT one here in Bergen...got up to 31.5 degrees today when we left for the airport!!!

We were packed and had breakfast by 9:00am this morning...had a stroll around the plaza and popped into a couple stores...might have found a couple things...out of necessity really because we are not prepared for this heat...the mall is in an old structure in the middle of the plaza but once you go into it, it opens right up to the sky! Very nice and it's small enough to manage...seeing as malls are NOT my favourite places to be!

 

 

I think that these little short boots, especially Doc Martens, are coming out in full swing this season...they are everywhere and super cute don't you think?!!

 

 

 

 

I LOVE looking at shoes...now we just need to find some of these brands in Canada...good luck huh?!!

 

I also wanted to find some blunt nosed scissors for the flight so I can continue working on my cross stitch in flight :) apparently they allow small knives on board but tiny pointy scissors are prohibited!??

 

We found a great little bistro/bakery behind our hotel a couple streets...had a sandwich for a light lunch and shared a custard and strawberry dessert of course! Mom has to get her last bit of strawberries in before we leave Norway, apparently they are the best she's ever tasted! They are pretty awesome...

 

 

and a double shot Americano is the perfect compliment to dessert ;)

 

 

All packed up and ready to carry on to our next destination...Frankfurt, Germany!

 

 

 

Our taxi driver was very nice and showed us the Royal Castle and the construction they are working on at the Bergen Airport...best part about the ride to the airport was his nicely air-conditioned taxi actually!

 

We decided we might as well wait it out at the airport in the hopes that it was better air-conditioning in there then at our hotel and downtown Bergen...it was slightly better. Had a game of Phase 10 to use up some of our extra waiting time...I won!

 

 

The food area at the Bergen Airport is really cute...and it was quiet and less crowded up there too!

 

 

 

Had to chuckle at the signs indicating where the restrooms are...

 

 

We are at the point where we just wanted to check our bags and get through security, process our Global Blue tax refunds and fly to Frankfurt! I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but the tax rate here in Norway is 25% on most things...so when you purchase goods as a guest here at a Global Blue retailer...you can get your tax back when you leave...so after a couple line ups and stamping of my receipts...I can see my 450CDN credited back to my Visa in about 5 days apparently!

You know how that happens when it's time to go home, you just want to go home!

 

Good-Bye Norway!

The flight to Frankfurt was a bit turbulent but otherwise non-eventful, the way I like it, and travelling in Business Class is really lovely too...you'd think with the extra money you pay for Business Class they could provide no turbulence...something they can always work on!

 

Mom reserved a suite here at the Sheraton in the Frankfurst Airport...it was very handy getting out of the baggage area, head up a couple escalators and we are at the hotel...even nicer in a huge room!!!

 

 

I have room to unfold all of my luggage and we can still walk around in here! Funny how you make due staying in the closet size rooms in Europe...

 

 

Everythings here...bathtub, shower, toilet and bidet...

 

Off to bed...leaving for YVR tomorrow! Getting excited to see my family and sleep in my own bed!!!

 

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