So today, Thursday April 12, is Opera day. I have been excited for this day to some since I bought the tickets. Suzan added to the trip a stay at an all suite hotel in Darling Harbor and booked a lunch cruise on Captain Cook cruises for Friday.
From Suzan's house it is a short Uber trip to the train station, about a $6 trip on my Opal card to Circular Quay which is where you can pick up ferries. I think Suzan thought I didn't enjoy the ferry and was looking for alternatives, but once I assured her that I didn't just like riding on the ferries, I LOVED riding on the ferries, we took the train to catch the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbor.
We got on the ferry just in time to see a huge Princes cruise ship coming into the harbor. It was headed to dock near Darling Harbor so from the ferry we would watch it go under the bridge and head right towards us. It looks like the ship clears the bridge by inches although I'm sure in reality it is feet - very few feet - but feet. As it turns out there was kind of a traffic jam in darling harbor between the ferries, the boats from Captain Cook cruises bringing people in and out of Darling Harbor from ships docked further down the harbor and the various other commercial ships. We had to skip one stop to get around the cruise ship and finally landed at our stop.
A short walk past the Maritime Museum up the mall brought us to the one place I try to visit in every city: Hard Rock cafe. It was awesome. Hamburgers, cucumber mojitos, pictures to add to my history of Hard Rock cafe visits and of course a visit to the Rock Shop for t-shirts, pins and shot glasses. Suzan had never been to a Hard Rock so she had to listen to all my Hard Rock stories (she is a great travel mate - she kindly listened to all my stories).
The Rock reflected one thing I have heard people talk about - the cost of living in Sydney. A cheese burger and fries at the Darling Harbor Hard Rock was $26.50. Drink like $16 and appetizer $13. For us from the U.S., drop the price about 25% to reflect the currency exchange. I have found some things in grocery stores (like Australian produce, meat and poultry) is pretty reasonable. But as an example, I had to replace an eye brow pencil - $7.99 at home. $16.50 AUD.
Stomachs full and pocket books lighter, we headed off to our hotel. About a 10 minute walk in 90 degree plus weather with about 80% humidity and I was really happy when we found our hotel and its wonderful air conditioning. Shower and fresh clothes and we were off to the Opera. Suzan had been scoping out how to get from our hotel to the opera and as we walked out to the street I said my new favorite word in Sydney - Uber.
We had a lovely driver who took us right to the ticket office where our tickets for dinner and the opera were waiting for us. They had our tickets for Opera, nothing for dinner but not an issue - I had a confirming email. Gotta love online purchases and confirmations.
We walked towards the Opera, Suzan got us programs, and as we turned the harbor stretched before us. An absolutely gorgeous site. Down the hill and through the gates and the stage was right in front of us. It was spectacular and HUGE. We scoped out our seats - dead center in front of the stage - another plus of online purchases - then headed off to find the Platinum Club.
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| Front view of the stage |
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| Stage just prior to the opera starting |
The man monitoring the club's entrance was not quite as taken by my confirming email in lieu of a ticket, but my best American accent I told him it had been confirmed, I had waited for this for months and I was just sure they had my name on the list for dinner. Guess what? They had my name on the list for dinner!
Early once again, we got a table in the very front over looking the harbor. We discovered wine and champagne were included with our dinner and so we had some while we waited for the food to be ready. They advertised it as a tasting menu, but they had a potato dish (like a potato gratin) traditional ratatouille, coq o vin, what looked like knockwurst with sauerkraut, salads, anti pasta and bread. So much more than I expected and oh so very good!
Dinner concluded and we walked to our seats. They had stands where you could buy wine in an ice bucket to take back to your seat with wine glasses. Reminded me of when Cindy and I went to Park City Utah for an Earth Wind and Fire Concert. Instead of smelling everyone lighting up (pot), we heard everyone popping the cork of their wine. I settled for a lovely bottle of sparkling water and a lemon tart to share during intermission.
The Opera was spectacular. I love La Boheme so it was impossible for it to be anything but good. But this was great! Many of the cast came in on the sidewalk and walked up a ramp to the stage - right in front of us! The stage was huge as were the props. There were balloons and a basket that came down to carry off one of the characters (hooked to a crane). When Rodolfo and Mimi kissed fire works went off - literally. Fireworks went off at the end of the first act AFTER the characters came on stage with torches - real torches with fire! One character arrived in a police bugger that drove right in front of us then returned during the second act to deliver more characters. Two overturned cars - real cars - were on the stage for the start of the second act - one of them on fire - literally. The singing was wonderful, the staging was breath taking and of course the story of La Boheme is just wonderful.
The only sad note of the night was a 30 minute delay when an older lady on a cane fell backwards on the cement steps. The paramedics came and actually put her on a backboard then into an ambulance. Suzan and I agreed that no matter what country you are in, paramedics always seem to be young, very handsome men. We both agreed the ambulance driver could drive us to the hospital anytime! But in all seriousness, we watched as they cared for their patient and they really were wonderful in how they talked with her, cared for her and made sure she made it safely onto the ambulance and off to the hospital.
Getting home proved to be more of a challenge but Suzan found us a water taxi that got us back to Circle Quay where there were no ferries - Suzan said there were, but I stuck to my story so - you guessed it - Uber back to the hotel.
Over all, what a spectacular day. I felt bad at first about missing an opera at the Opera House, but I overheard more than one person talk about how surprised they were that the interior of the Opera House had not been updated recently and how close the rows were which led to sore knees by the end of the opera. Not a problem at the Opera on the Harbor so La Boheme led us to the right place!
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