Day 1 - Monday, March 16 - First day in Sydney

Hello friends and family:
After I awoke from my melatonin-induced slumber, we arrived in beautiful 75 degrees, sunny & breezy Sydney Australia! The city sits at a similar latitude as Los Angeles, and was founded on January 26 (Willie's birthday!!!) 1788, when the 11 convict-bearing ships arrived from England to establish the colony of New South Wales. (Convicts continued to be transported there from 1788 - 1840...we saw no evidence of freshly arrived convict ships to our knowledge). There are now almost 4 million people living in Sydney (and 21 million in all of Australia) That compares
with our fair city of Los Angeles which has nearly the same number of people at 3.8 million (while the United States has 304 million!)

Our flight got in early (around 6:30am) but fortunately for us, our Park Hyatt room was available for early check-in (my luck was changing). We immediately set off on a 5 minute walk to the Opera House, and lo & behold not much had changed in the 10 years since Willie visited it! Truly the sight of this magnificent building is "gasp" worthy. We walked and walked and walked, covering every side & angle of the building. Architect Jorn Utzon was selected in 1957 from over 233 designs submitted. The original cost to build the Opera House was $7 million - final cost was $102 million (those of you dealing with hostile contractors, take heart!!). Queen Elizabeth officially opened the Opera House in October 1973. Inside, the Concert Grand organ is the largest mechanical organ in the world with 10,154 pipes, and took 10 years to complete. Our Gov. Arnold won his first Mr Olympic Body Building title in 1980 in the Concert Hall (ho hum - but had to throw that in).

Our hotel sits under the Sydney Harbour Bridge - more news on this tomorrow as Willie and I made reservations to CLIMB it! (1439 steps - no problem!!!)

Off we went in a taxi to Neilsen Beach in Rose Bay, where Willie regaled me with stories of when he & Bill went there 10 years ago with Susie Dobson & Harry (we have it on video - Susie calling me in LA from the beach in Australia!) It is the most lovely beach with a charming Victorian lunch spot...the water was cold but believe it or not we BOTH went in for a swim (note in the 19 years we've lived in LA, I have only been in the Santa Monica Bay 1 time!). Lucky for us there is a wide netting surrounding the swimming area, to prevent sharks from getting to us.

Late in the afternoon I walked around The Rocks, which is the area in which the Park Hyatt is located - full of shops, art galleries, and restaurants. The Rocks community dates back to 1789 and is the birthplace of modern-day Australia. It is Sydney's oldest preserved colonial district - there is an excellent Visitor Centre that is a must visit for all tourists exploring this city. I did a little shopping I'll admit - at The Button Store, a shop full of thousands of buttons of every shape, color, and size. That night, Willie and I ate dinner at the Sydney Tower Restaurant, a restaurant that overlooks Sydney while revolving 360 degrees during your meal. Then it was home to bed, and asleep in 5 minutes (or less). Stay tuned!!!