Sydney

Cory and I splurged on ourselves in March by asking our sweet, sweet babysitter Miss Dee if she would look after the kids for a weekend so we could get away by ourselves.  People, I can't tell you the last time Cory and I had a trip all to ourselves that had no other purpose than just to be together.  We chose to go to Sydney since Cory had projects in the area that he needed to visit, and while the weather wasn't great, the trip was awesome! What a blessing it was to have uninterrupted talks, a two-hour breakfast over still hot cappuccinos, and time where our focus could be only on each other! I always find it amazing how after a brief period of not remembering what to talk about other than our kids, we, as a couple, find our way back to being just the two of us, like we were before we had children. It's a magical transformation.

We started off the weekend with an amazing dinner at the Altitude restaurant on the 36th floor of our hotel, the Shangri-La. After a quick little discussion regarding the hostess's poor seating choice, we were swiftly escorted to what had to be the best table in the whole joint.  We had this stunning view of both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.  I so wish I had the guts to be that girl who whips out my 10 ton camera at a restaurant like this...but I'm not, so I'm borrowing this image from the website www.36levelsabove.com.au.

Now you can see why we stayed for two bottles of sparkling wine!  I'm not kidding - this was exactly our view and it was worth every penny!

The next morning we awoke at our leisure and took our time getting out and about.  The grey, drizzly weather made us feel relaxed, with no pressure to hustle to do a ton of sight-seeing.  So instead we headed to Paddington, a suburb with one of the oldest and largest Saturday markets.  We had breakfast at a perfect little cafe called Sloan's, where we had what we both agreed was the best cappuccino either of us had had since Italy in 2002. I wanted to order a second, it was that good.  So, you'll excuse me while I post a photo of said amazing cappuccino.

After our brekky we poked around in all the shops lining Oxford street picking up odds and ends, as you can't do very easily with kids, and then headed over to the market.  On a day without rain we would have stayed twice as long, but as it was, an outdoor market wasn't exactly loads of fun.

This little market reminded me so much of Europe.

So we headed back to  drop off our goodies and then on to walk around the area where our hotel was located, called The Rocks. In 1788 Australia's first European settlers {British convicts and their overseers} claimed this area and set up camp there. The area still oozes the historical look and feel. One of the reasons I was so excited to stay in The Rocks was to get some good photography opportunities.  I just love the look of old cobblestone streets, heavy wooden doors, stone buildings and mature trees. Unfortunately the rain meant that my camera had to stay put away for long periods and didn't get much exercise.  I have to admit though, that while my guilt for not seizing the opportunity for taking photos was rearing it's ugly head, the other half of me sighed a big sigh of relaxing relief...me and my camera could have a vacation without worrying about composition, lighting, subject matter, etc.  Albeit short-lived, it was a nice break, especially since it was a weekend for just me and the hubs :) So, here are the very few pix I took while the rain subsided.

As the rain picked back up that afternoon, we decided to take shelter in a great little wine bar called Serendipity.  What a great concept.  You can actually taste any wine they have on the menu by putting money on a little card and choosing what you want when you want.  Then you upgrade to a half glass or full glass when you find something you like.  I was in heaven!  My only criticism would be that it would have been nice to have more experienced hosts and hostesses to answer wine questions instead of being limited to the information on the little cards next to the bottles.  For this novice wine connoisseur it left much to be desired in terms of direction.  But it was cozy, and I found a fabulous red that I can't wait to order more of - Red Bucket Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum!

After several tastes and a few glasses we decided to get pizza to take back to the hotel for movie night.  We were directed to a little Italian place a block away, and what looked like a sure bet {could have mistaken our location for Little Italy in NYC} we had what turned out to be the disappointment of the weekend. Our take out pizza was basically a paper thin, greasy, nasty thing.  We couldn't even eat it, so we ended up going to bed hungry. At least I had a little fun playing with capturing motion on our way home...otherwise the night would have ended on a really bad note.  Never the one to commit to lugging around a tri-pod, these photos be a lot better, but it's so fun to see how the light is captured when you photograph motion, especially at night {plus, it was one of the only times it wasn't raining!}.

So, what do you do when you go to bed hungry?  You wake up and have an enormous brekky!  Sunday morning we ate at another quaint little breakfast cafe in The Rocks and enjoyed every last bite while watching more rain come down.  We spent the rest of our last day in Sydney wandering around the Museum of Contemporary Art, where they were hosting an Annie Liebovitz exhibit.  While it was great to see so many of the works of a modern legend in the photography arena, the exhibit was crowded and hot.  It was hard to admire the photos for as long as I wanted.  This woman has had the quintessential professional career, starting out at Rolling Stone and later shooting for Vanity Fair and So I thought I'd post a few of my favorites here for you to peruse at your leisure.

                                                                              John Lennon & Yoko Ono, New York City, 1980.  

Obviously this is one of the most classic and famous rock & roll photos of all times.  What I didn't know however, is that this is the last professional photo taken of John Lennon. 

He was assassinated only 5 hours later.

                                                                           Willie Nelson, Luck Ranch, Spicewood, Texas, 2001

                                                                                           Emmylou Harris, Franklin, Tennessee, 2001

This is exactly the kind of photography that made me want to study it in college.  

Absolutely amazing composition and contrast in her exposure.  

                                                    Mikhail Baryshnikov, White Oak, Florida, 1990

And who can resist the eye candy she's produced for Vanity Fair

                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Alpha List, April 2003 {Vanity Fair}

Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Ewan McGregor, and Matt Damon
.

                                                                                                                                                                                          Send in the Gowns, April 2004 {Vanity Fair}

Julianne Moore, Jennifer Connelly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Aniston, Kirsten Dunst, Diane Lane, Lucy Liu, Hilary Swank, Alison Lohman, Scarlett Johansson, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Once we left the museum, it was time to head out.  Such a short stay left us wanting to see more of Sydney.  I'm sure we'll be back in the future, but I have a feeling it will not be an adult only trip.  We really want the kids to see the Opera House and the Zoo, and the Aquarium and Bondi Beach. The list goes on...All in all another great weekend adventure!