Saturday, October 23, 2010

Sydney-Day 1



Ahhh, Sydney.  I really really loved you!!


We fell in love the second our shuttle drove us through the city and plopped us at our hotel around 9:30am.  We couldn't check into our hotel yet, so we grabbed a latte (a huge must after long flight) and hoped to ride the high out and get a days worth of activity in.  


The first day was spent in Chinatown, Darling Harbour, the Wharf, and The Aquarium!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves :)


Chinatown

Tumbalong Park

Loved this fountain

Darling Harbour

I felt as if the birds were going to attack :)

Market conveniently located off the harbour

Felt just like Seattle

THE AQUARIUM --
Jordan this was just for you, love you platy!!

The largest shark in the world -- can you imagine!!

Our favorite part of the Sydney Aquarium:
seeing real sea life, through glass!



Had lunch on the patio viewing the harbour .... 
even the sun peaked out after an overcast morning, just like Seattle! 


Funny story about eating outdoors.  Remember the birds I showed you a picture of a few photos up??  Well, we learned VERY quickly after an almost detrimental experience that the seagulls will swoop down and grab your plate-worth of food if you leave it for .01 seconds.  I didn't take the server seriously, oops!  I almost lost my entire meal, which would have been okay this time around as we were underwhelmed by the burger, chicken sandwich, and fries.  The food just isn't the same as back home.  Imagine .... bland!!


After lunch, we walked back to out hotel, which was perfectly located in the heart of the city.  We got checked in, and I took a 3 hour nap as my body clock thought it was midnight 'ish.  Gabe was a rockstar and stayed up to find out Australian TV shows are interesting.  I woke up just beat, hoping to go back to bed, and hubs is wanting to get dinner.  Ummm at midnight (Seattle time)?!  I have never eaten that late before, but I was a very good wifey to go hunt for some local grub :)

A little sidenote ***This is the first time I used Hotel.com and went off the gazillion reviews I read hoping for a ideal location and clean place to stay.  The Vibe Hotel in Sydney was perfect and really modern.  I had read that roaches are a common finding, and my first evening there ... I found one in the bathroom.  Ick, reminds me of TX as we don't have them in WA.


Our hotel had a very smart concept for electricity and required the key to be in the slot for the air and lights to work!  We kept the spare key in while we were at dinner to keep our room cool, so we were apparently too smart for them.


We should do this in the US


Back to eating at midnight .... 
We walked around a bit waiting for the perfect place to catch our eye.
Din Tai Fung .... what is that might you ask??


Only 43 restaurants in the entire world, and I am so glad we stumbled upon it.  The line was out the door (on a Monday night) and completely packed.  Gabe and I had neither heard of Din Tai Fung or what in the world we were going to order, but I knew we had to stop in because that's where ALL the Asians were.




We found out that it is known as a "Dumpling House," and I am so sad I didn't get a picture of our meal and all the people as we were seated at a large round table of locals who got a good laugh out of us, I am sure. The pork dumplings were phenomenal, and it quickly became (and stayed) our favorite restaurant in all of Australia.  Din Tai Fung are all over Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, etc.  Check out the link here!  The only location currently in the USA is in LA, AND, we are getting one at the end of the month in Bellevue!!!  We can't wait and are hoping to go on opening night.


After dinner, we went straight home and I was asleep by 9pm Sydney time.  The best thing about getting to sleep early was waking up at 7am without an alarm (and my body thought I was sleeping in like a teenager till 2pm Seattle time!)



Yes, that really was all one day filled, Day 2 is next!
To be continued ....

31 comments:

Unknown said...

I would think those birds were going to attack, too. Awesome aquarium pics! And that's a very smart thing to do with the hotel card. I think the US should do that, too! Can't wait for the continuation :)

Jordan said...

Love the pictures! The birds would have seriously freaked me out. Not a bird kind of person. Can't wait to see more! :-)

bride4life said...

It seems like all cities have a chinatown.

Neely said...

Sounds freaking awesome! I cant wait to read more!!!

LaVonne said...

Great photos! How fun. Thanks for sharing. What a big day. can't wait to see how day two turned out.

Blessings!

Carol {Everyday Delights} said...

LOVING the pictures! Oh my gosh that aquarium is awesome. Actually in Bora Bora they had the same thing with the key card and I thought it was genious! Love your scarf too. Keep the pics coming!!

Lindsey said...

As we have yet to be world travelers outside of a tropical beach, I REALLY want to visit Seattle. When is the best time to of year to experience it? Very jealous of your trip to Australia!

LWLH said...

Great photos...looks like you had a great time.

LWLH said...

Great photos...looks like you had a great time.

Lindsay said...

i LOVE these photos! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Oh i love that fountain down at darling harbour too, so pretty for photos... in fact, i love the whole of darling harbour :)
cant wait to hear more about your trip!
xx

Selma @ Crazy Little World Of Mine said...

Love these pictures. :)What a giant shark that is!!! Looks like you had a fantastic time. And do I need to say I'm jealous?! ;)
Oh, and yes, I know those hotel cards. ;) Love them. And good for the environment too...if you take the card out. hahaha. ;)

Can't wait for part number 2!! :)

Virginia Belle said...

Looks like you had so much fun! I had the same issue with pigeons in Greece, they literally stole a piece of bacon off of my husband's plate. I have not been a fan of them ever since! I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Token Yankee said...

So fun! That stinks about the seagalls. They did that at the beach were I grew up in NJ too. You had to eat your sandwhich quick or they would swoop down and take it right out of your hand!

Annie said...

Looks and sounds amazing!! I would love to go sometime!!

Unknown said...

Yay sister! So glad to see some pictures and I can't wait to see more. Cute cute cute!

MCW said...

I have been waiting for you Australia posts! Can't wait to hear more...

Anonymous said...

Great pictures! Love the ones at the aquarium. What fun!

Lindsay @ la vita dolce said...

sounds like you had an amazing first day :) cant wait to read about day 2.

Jessica said...

The birds would have freaked me out too. Every time we go to the beach, I run from seagulls. ICK!

The dumplings sound amazing, can't wait to hear about more of your trip.

Jen said...

Love the pictures; sounds like a great trip so far!

Jax said...

SO FUN! That pic of you looking nervous with the birds is hilariously adorable! :) And um.. the photo of the shark..holy wow that's BIG! Cute photos girl and I'm way impressed with all you did in your first day after such a long flight! High five!

Unknown said...

So much fun! I'm glad you had a blast. I can't wait to hear about the rest of it! Your pictures are precious!

Jenn @ West Sac Honey said...

Love seeing your pictures reminds me of my trip! Their aquarium was totally awesome I loved the tube!

I'm intrigued about this Chinese food place!

Holly said...

Great photos!! Thanks for sharing!! :)

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Love getting to see Australia!

Unknown said...

Yup,I knew Ding Tai Fung.Singapore have lot of branches here..

Quite a pricey foods here in SG..

Glad that you tried..

Neha said...

You both are looking great in all those pictures! Loved those aquarium pictures. Would love to see sea life through a glass too.

Dumplings are commonly called 'momos' here and are a big hit for anytime snacks!

Waiting for other details.

Luray va accommodations said...

Your post is really awesome especially pictures I truly enjoyed. Sydney is the Harbor city and has some exceptional places like Opera House, The Harbor Bridge, Parramatta and Darling Harbor Aquarium. I’d definitely recommend travelers to take a trip towards this place.

Liesl said...

Loving all your cute outfits and flats...so stylish!!! You are beautiful!

Liesl :)

Heather said...

I'm loving all the pictures, you are seriously making me want to go on a trip to Australia now!

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