A night at that opera

Sarah loves the opera.  She asked me if I wanted to go watch an opera on the harbour with Lisa.  I had only ever been to the opera once years ago when I was backpacking in Austria.  I didn't enjoy it back then and I remember Chris and myself leaving after the first act.  There was a stuffiness to it all and following the story didn't help to make it more interesting.

It had been a long time though, and I admittedly enjoyed the "music" of opera, even if I didn't enjoy the performance of it so much.  On top of that, Sarah wanted to go to the open air opera which was held on Sydney harbour.  This seemed to be one of the great experiences of living in Sydney, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it.

On a nice warm evening, the three of us went out to the Botanic Gardens to watch the opera.  Most people were dressed casually, but there were some who decided to go very formal.  It added to the atmosphere and I was glad that for once, I wasn't one of the people dragging down the classiness of the place like I was back in Austria.

During my time in Sydney, I had spent almost no time in the Botanic Gardens.  It was always something that I intended on doing more, but just never got around to doing.  Being there at night was a bit surreal.  To be sitting there looking at the enormous stage, whilst having the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background didn't quite feel real.

Watching the show itself, I felt many of the same feelings that I did back in Austria return.  The music was lovely and I enjoyed it as much as I always did.  Sadly the whole package of opera is not something I enjoy all that much.  The acting was over the top and the sets, whilst impressive, didn't give me enough reason to stay interested.  There were subtitles displayed on screens for everyone so that we could follow the plot, and unsurprisingly the plot was ridiculous.  We were watching the opera "Aida".  A story about an Egyptian general fighting between his love for his country and Aida.  It all ends tragically (of course) and with pretty much everyone buried alive....

In our modern day of well written dramas and complex stories, I wonder whether it's simply the case that people in the past were a bit simpler in their tastes.  Would audiences in the past have found this silly story gripping and compelling or would they have seen this all as merely a "vessel" for the music, something to be tolerated for the true item of value?

Even without the story, it was good to be able to experience something different.  The music was indeed very enjoyable and I was able to look at Sydney is a very different light.

Taronga

One of the great benefits of working at my law firm are the free tickets to Taronga Zoo.  Years ago, the firm did some pro bono work for the zoo and in exchange, the zoo gifted the firm at set of lifetime gold passes.  The firm was nice enough to offer these passes to all of the staff and all we needed to do was book out the particular day we wanted to use them.  I'm never one to pass up the chance for a free trip to the zoo, so I decided to take Jimmy and Eva to the zoo with their family.

The trip over to Taronga is always one of the nicest in Sydney.  You can drive through the northern suburbs to get to the zoo, but personally I think a ride on the ferry across the harbour from Circular Quay is the best way to go.  Sydney is at its best when it is near the water, with its incredible beaches and beautiful harbour.  It's easy to forget about it sometimes, but these trips help to remind me of what is here.

The entrance to the zoo is at the top of the hill and away from the water.  Whichever way you arrive, you will head to this entrance at the top.  After you enter the zoo, you start to walk slowly into the zoo and down the hill until you see one of the best (and most confusing) views you can get all of Sydney. 

Seeing the whole of the Sydney skyline, with both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House from this angle is what most tourists dream of.  Not many people realise that it's actually from the zoo that you get this incredible view.  What makes it all so strange though is who actually makes up the foreground of many of these views.

One of the first big enclosures on your walk down the hill is for the giraffes.  They have pride of place in front of the amazing view.  So when you visit the zoo, you're more than likely to get your first glimpse of the beautiful harbour as you're looking at a large group of giraffes.  It's not the picture you would have had in your head of what Sydney harbour should look like!

The rest of the zoo is great as well.  There are plenty of shows where you can see the animals up close and there are even places where you can see them feeding.  It's not really a place I would regularly go to, yet a trip to the zoo never feels wasted.

Royal Show fun

The Royal Easter Show is an annual Sydney tradition.  There are Royal shows all over Australia every year, but the Sydney show always happens around the Easter period.

I love the show.  I've loved it since I was a kid.  People from overseas don't always understand it.  To be honest, I'm not sure I would understand it all that much if I didn't grow up with it.

It might be simpler than I think though.  City dwellers in Australia have a nostalgic view of the Australian bush and country.  The show gives us one of those rare opportunities to get a bit closer to the country and a different part of what Australia is.  It's a far cry from the original purpose of the show, being an opportunity for those living in country and rural areas to gather in the city to compete and to buy much needed supplies.

The closest comparison I can think of for the show is probably what Americans would call their "State Fairs".  Like the American state fairs, there's always a huge and varied amount of carnival style foods on offer.  Everything is in huge portions and frequently served on a stick.  It's kinda fun to gorge of this type of food once in a while and the show is the perfect time to do it.

From a food perspective, the more important place to go is the Country Women's Association cafe.  This is always set up inside one of the main halls and I definitely think it is the highlight of the show (from a food perspective anyway).  Every year, the old ladies with the CWA set up and start baking thousands and thousands of scones.  It's one of the great pleasures to be able to sit down for a cup of tea with some truly fantastic scones.

Of all the events, I think my favourite would be the woodchopping.  Going to the show means you also get to go to one of, if not the only, purpose built woodchopping arenas in the world.

Competitive woodchopping is a thing, and when you see it in person you appreciate incredible skill and power involved.  I think the event where they start building their own ladder up a log must the true highlight.  The show is a perfect event to bring overseas guests to.  You see enough weird and wonderful things that make up Australia and you can feed them.  It's the perfect combination.

Parisian streets

My trip was nearly finished, but I had a little bit of extra time in Paris before heading home.

The streets of Paris are exceptionally beautiful, and I find it enjoyable to just walk around.  Maya wanted to go to some markets in the city to buy some groceries, so I followed,  We bought a whole range of different vegetables, saucisson, pates.  All of the things you would expect to buy in a nice Parisian market.

Before we left, Maya wanted to get some dessert for dinner.  She took me to a patisserie called "Aux Merveilleux de Fred".  The patisseries specialised in merveilleux cakes, delicate little meringue cakes that were covered in cream.  We bought a box home for after dinner that night.

The weather was cold outside and as we left, we also decided to buy a loaf of chocolate brioche that had just come of the oven.  I sat in the car as Maya drove home with the warm loaf in my lap, slowly pulling out pieces to eat.

Nordic Christmas

It was definitely feeling more and more like Christmas was just around the corner.  Everywhere Phil and I went, there were more decorations and more and more people were dressed for the "festive season".  We decided we wanted to join in with some of the fun, so we made a reservation at a specialty restaurant that was doing "Julebord", which is pretty much just the Christmas version of a Swedish smorgasbord.  We wandered off to a bizarre former prison island, got lost, then eventually found the Julebord restaurant.  Inside, the place was filled with Swedes wearing Christmas sweaters, enjoying one another's company whilst politely eating their fill of the limitless food.  We were surprised by how polite and well mannered they all were given the nature of the meal.  Phil and I clearly didn't have the patience or the class of these Swedes as we attacked the food.  Our old boarding school mentality was still with us and having "unlimited food" in front of us seemed to trigger a response to test the limits of that claim.  The food itself didn't seem to be anything special.  There was a Scandinavian tilt towards it all and I've definitely never seen so much herring in one place at one time.  Still for the price of it all, I didn't think it was worth it other than to add to the list of experiences I've had.

We spent the rest of our time in Stockholm walking around and exploring.

Outside of the old town of Gamla Stan, Stockholm is a mix of historic old buildings and newer buildings that are probably best described as "modern brutalist".  There's a lot of concrete and a lot of steel.  Even some of the public walkways displayed this sleek and abrupt form of architecture.

As much as that look may appeal to some people, it was definitely the older style that I found nicer to look at.

The Christmas decorations definitely added to the atmosphere.  I felt the Christmas mood everywhere I went.  I've always loved Christmas, so this was very welcome to me.  The streets weren't yet covered in snow, but it was already more than cold enough for us to start enjoying some of the festive activities.

In the centre of town, a small Christmas market had been constructed.  We gathered around small fires, we ate the cakes, drank the glug and wandered through the shops looking at the strange traditional Swedish toys that were synonymous with Christmas and the region.  I often think of Christmas as being a fairly generic holiday for all, but the reality is that to this day, even in our globalised world, there are still many traditions for Christmas which are unique to different regions.  Here in Sweden, during Christmas they celebrate with little "Christmas trolls", which are bizarre little troll dolls which only appear during Christmas.  I'm sure there's a deeper meaning to them, but it was completely lost on me.

In the middle of everything was a large ice skating rink.

Kids dashed around with a confidence that neither of us had.  It made me wonder how different we would have been if we had been brought up in this environment instead of in Australia.

The Wasa

I remember reading about the Wasa (or Vasa) when I was a kid.  I had to prepare an assignment and I found the sinking of the Wasa to be a fascinating topic.  It gave me a particular joy to be able to visit the actual ship now that I was in Stockholm.

Even after hundreds of years under the water, the ship was still impressive.  It was meant to be the flagship of the Swedish fleet during the height of Sweden's military power over the whole of Europe, so it was only fitting that it would have the most impressive new warship of the era.  Sadly for Sweden, the Wasa was a poorly designed ship and it sank on its maiden voyage as it was leaving the harbour.  According to reports, a wind slightly stronger than a breeze was enough to tip the ship, such were the issues with its balance.

Amazingly, the wreckage of the ship was rediscovered and refloated in the 60s.  Now, it has it's own climate controlled museum to house it.

I had sadly mistimed the trip a little bit.  My old friend Pete used to work on the restoration work relating to the Wasa and he was the still friends with the head of the archaeological work being done on this beautiful ship.  Unfortunately he was away at the very time I was in Stockholm, otherwise I would have been given the rare opportunity of actually boarding the ship itself.

Even without the opportunity to board the ship, being up close to the ship was a special experience.  It's one thing to look at pictures and videos, it's another thing entirely to be able to see the intricate details and to understand just how large the vessel is.

Old Stockholm

I arrived early in the evening in Stockholm.  It was already pitch black when I landed at Arlanda Airport.  I grabbed my bags and took the shuttle bus into the city.  The trip was fast, but there was nothing to see.  Along the road into Stockholm there was nothing but forests and the occasional strip mall.  There was something "desolate" about it all even though there were trees everywhere.  I didn't do much the first evening other than explore the area around Adam's apartment (which he was kindly letting me stay in).  I felt exhausted so I went to sleep. 

The next day Phil arrived from Norway. 

We took the time to walk around the old town of Stockholm, Gamla Stan, as much as we could.  It sits on an island in the middle of Stockholm and is filled with historic old buildings.

It "almost" feels like a theme park at times, but thankfully it doesn't quite reach those levels.  Instead, it remains a well manicured and idealised view into the past.  I don't in anyway think that these places used to look so good when they were full of the trash and garbage of people living here, but it's still a nice image to see.

We walked around town as much as we could.  It was hard to describe Stockholm with words other than "nice" or "clean".  Everywhere we went had that classy European vibe.  The people definitely added to this as well, as it probably had one of the most attractive populations I had seen anywhere.  Everyone was tall, slim and blonde.  Outdoor life and fitness continue to play an important part in Swedish life, and this showed with the people.

We got closer to the water and felt the chill of winds blowing in from over the sea.  It probably wasn't the most ideal of times to be in Stockholm.  It felt like everyone was hibernating a bit.  There wasn't much of a liveliness anywhere.  We found a warm cafe to sit down for some "Fika".  Inside the warmth of the cafe, with a hot cup of coffee and a slice of cake, people seemed to smile more and be happier.

At least everything looked incredibly pretty.

Suburbs of Paris

I always enjoy visiting Maya and Adam.  They don't live in the centre of Paris, but instead in the southern suburbs of the city closer to where Adam works.  I find that I'm able to get a very different experience staying with them than what other tourists see.  It's a more genuine experience of life in Paris and it's always relaxing and extremely pleasant.

One of my favourite things to do when visiting them is to go to Parc du Sceaux.

I've mentioned this park many times before, but it really deserves as much attention as possible.  It is one of my favourite parks in the entire world.  It's beautifully landscaped, and offers so much space for people to enjoy.  People flock to "famous" parks and gardens in Paris like the Tuileries and Versailles, but I think that Parc du Sceaux is better than both of them.

The size of the park is what impresses me every time.  To be able to maintain such an enormous park to such a high degree of quality would cost a fortune.  The pictures I take only capture a small portion of the entire park which also includes vast areas of forests and enormous man made lakes.

Maya had decided to go for our walk that day wearing a pair of flip flops.  It was a cold day and Adam and I had both put on heavier jackets.  Within the hour, she was complaining about how cold her feet were and so Adam kindly gave her his socks.

We walked up to the chateau which looked like it had some construction on it.  Instead of looking at construction work, we found ourselves in front of the set of some filming.  Turns out that Parc du Sceaux was being used as the filming location for a new drama called "Versailles" which would be coming out soon.  With it's grand architecture and vast expanse of gardens, this seemed like the perfect location for Versailles to be recreated.

The rest of our time was spent just walking around town.  We went to the markets, had lunch in the cafes.  It was just a nice and comfortable time without any particular rushing around.

On one evening, Maya and Adam got a babysitter and we all went out for dinner at a restaurant they had discovered.

It was located in an old French barn that had been converted into a fine dining restaurant.

The food was rich and traditionally French.  I ordered a grilled piece of foie gras for my entree and then followed it up with pan seared calves liver for my main.  I was feeling extremely full, but still decided that I wanted dessert and so I ordered the creme de marron for dessert.  It would all prove to be too much for me later, but it was a good dinner.  We sat by candlelight as we ate our fill and drank the wines on offer.  I hadn't been to any of the famous sights at all on this trip to Paris, and I didn't care about that at all.

Christmas approaching

Christmas was approaching fast.  Europe changes quite a bit over Christmas as people get ready for the festivities.  In Germany, the Christmas markets are a wonder to behold, with food and activities for everyone.

In France, the Christmas markets are a bit more muted.

I was in Paris to visit Maya and Adam and they suggested we go and look at some of the Christmas preparations.  We hopped in their car and they told me that we'd be heading to Le Defense.... that seemed very strange to me.  Le Defense is probably the least French place in all of France.  It is outside of the limits of "Paris", and is probably the main business district for Paris.  It's where all the big companies are headquartered and there really isn't all that much to the place.

It turns out that every year, there's a big Christmas market that gets set up at La Defense.

It's not as a good as the epic German ones I've seen, but living in Australia meant that I was starved of any of these events more generally.

It was still very early in the "Christmas season" so the market turned out to be relatively empty.  Thankfully the stores were all already open so I was able to get my fill of the food and random sights.

The all of the cooked cheese was particularly enticing.  I stared down the wheels of raclette being grilled before I settled on a big plate of tartiflette.

I'm fairly sure I can get most of these foods in Australia, but it really isn't the same without the cold weather.

Spanish art

Phil was on a real winning streak with our choice of accommodation.  He had found us a great little apartment in Madrid that was in the middle of a triangle of galleries and a short walk from the famous Puerta del Sol.

We spent much of our days walking through these incredible museums and galleries that Madrid had.  The quality of the exhibitions and displays were very good, mixing the traditional art you would expect to see in any large European gallery with more contemporary pieces.

Our favourite gallery was definitely the Reina Sofia.

The building itself was a blend of new and old.  A classic old European structure that had been encased with modern elements.

It was like much of Madrid.  The old elements were all there and they were well maintained.  Yet the modern was also blended into the city.  It felt natural, like it had developed according to a pre-determined plan.

A few days wasn't enough and we wished we had more time.

Madrid

After a few days of partying in Barcelona, Phil and I boarded the fast train for Madrid.

It was convenient, comfortable and actually went incredibly fast.  Australia has been mulling the development of a fast train network for decades, but it's hard to appreciate what we're missing until you actually ride one.  The process of getting to and from the station is so much quicker and you don't have the same hassle of having to go through the usual pre-boarding routine.  It's also nice to be able to just go to a train station in the middle of town and not have to schlep out to an airport on the far outskirts.

Phil had found us another great apartment in the middle of town.  It was in fact right in the middle of a triangle of museums and galleries which would prove handy.

The Barcelona and Madrid divide is famous around the world.  Geographically, they aren't far apart, but there's a huge gap culturally and politically.  You could see it quite quickly from the moment you arrived.  Madrid just looks different.  Barcelona has the look of a Mediterranean city, it's relaxed and the buildings have the "look" of a Mediterranean city.  Madrid on the other hand is classically European.  It has the grand and traditional style of architecture you would expect when visiting Europe.  Even the people seem more serious. 

I quickly liked Madrid.  I liked it a lot.  The city was full of parks and monuments, incredible museums and beautiful galleries.  At night the city was just as lively as Barcelona, with bars and restaurants everywhere.  As much as I enjoyed my time in Barcelona, I think I enjoyed myself more in Madrid.  The bar culture was one of the best I had ever seen and the food at each place was fantastic.  For an inland city, I was surprised by how seafood focused all the bar snacks were.  We ate calamari sandwiches, mussels, baby eels, cod croquettes, gambas.  All of it delicious, but not what I expected at all.

Gaudi's Spain

The city of Barcelona really does belong to Gaudi.  Culturally, aesthetically, architecturally.  He left his stamp on this city and whenever people think of it, they generally think of his style.  Everywhere in the city, you can see imitations of his style and his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia dominates the Barcelona skyline.

No first time visitor to Barcelona can avoid his works and so Phil and I both lined up to pay homage to this famed architect.  

My initial impressions weren't positive.

Standing in front of the cathedral, you feel overawed by its size.  It's a huge structure, but that being said, there have been other cathedrals I've stood in front of which have felt more imposing.  Looking at the detail, I also didn't quite get it.  There was no doubt that the design was incredibly unique and it was nothing like any other cathedral I had seen before.  As much as a looked at it though, I didn't really see the beauty in it.  It looked like it had been made from sand and I didn't like the shape of it at all.  Even in its state of ongoing construction, there was something very unfinished about the structure, even the parts that were meant to be complete.  It felt like blasphemy to have these thoughts, but when I looked over at Phil he seemed to be equally unimpressed.

The line to get in moved slowly.  Thankfully we had arrived early, the number of people in the line behind us continued to grow well past where had started.  At last, we got to go inside.

My attitudes switched completely when I was inside the cathedral.

I found the inside of the Sagrada Familia to be worthy of being described as breath taking.  It was a bright and open space, with thin white pillars that seemed almost alien in their design.  They reached high into the ceiling like some otherworldly trees, with branches spreading out to hold up the roof.  The intricacies which I found to be a bit strange and unattractive on the outside of the building were stunningly beautiful on the inside.  Every other cathedral I had ever been to was generally quite dark on the inside.  There would be certain sections which were a bit more lit up, but in general they weren't places that shone with natural light.  The Sagrada Familia on the other hand welcomes the light in.  The stained glass windows are unsurprisingly enormous and lovely, but when combined with the whiteness of the stone they seemed to give the entire interior a lovely glow.

I couldn't help but think about all of the sci-fi movies and space operas I had watched over the years.  The interior of this cathedral felt like something from one of those movies, like it was a monument built by some advanced civilisation who had skills and engineering far exceeding what we had now.  I thought about it a bit more and realised that my thinking was probably back to front.  This cathedral wasn't like those movies, it was those movies that were in fact like this cathedral!  This cathedral was itself the inspiration to all of those other artists, writers and directors and not vice-versa.

We had bought tickets which would let us go to the top.  That's one thing about my travels I've always done, I've always tried to get to the top if at all possible.  Most European cities are quite low, so the top of the cathedrals often offer the best vantage spot to see the entire city.  The Sagrada Familia was no different.  When we reached the top, we could see far out into the distance of Barcelona.

We left the Sagrada Familia and continued our "Gaudi tour".  We caught the suburb a bit further out to have a look at Park Guell.

The entire park was built and designed by Gaudi, so everything had his unique style and look.  From a location perspective, it was also a great place to see Barcelona as it's set on a hill looking across Barcelona all the way to the ocean.  Everything building, staircase, monument and statue was "Gaudi".  There were no hard lines or corners, everything was curved and flowing.  There were also lots of examples of the mosaics that Gaudi loved to apply to his works.  I still wasn't sure if I really liked it all that much, but I was definitely starting to appreciate it more.  Like the Sagrada Familia, it was just such a unique approach to design.  It all felt and looked more natural, it looked like the structures belonged to the landscape and had grown from their surroundings rather than merely being imposed into nature.  It again made me think of some sci-fi movies I had watched and I really did wonder how much of an inspiration he had been for many of their writers.

By this stage in the day we were tired.  Well... I was tired.  I always prided myself in my ability to walk non-stop when traveling, but Phil more than had my measure.  We were in Spain, so eventually I had to say "no mas".  I needed food.  We walked down from the park and wandered into the first churreria we saw.  It seemed legitimate enough and when we checked on our phones, it turned out to be one of the most highly regarded churrerias in the city.  We were the only people in the shop and the man behind the counter made our orders fresh.  We picked up the still hot churros and when we bit into them they still had a satisfying crunch.  Combined with the small cup of hot and thick chocolate, it was pick me up I needed to keep walking.

We managed to walk most of the way back to the Gothic Quarter.  It was a long walk, but it gave us a chance to see the city.  Once you leave the main areas, everything clears out significantly and it starts to feel like any other city, albeit with prettier architecture.  We had been given a strong recommendation to go and visit a restaurant near our apartment called "Cal Pep", so we went back to the apartment to change before heading over.

Cal Pep itself is a bit strange, it's half restaurant and half bar.  The most famous part is probably the open bar area where you sit and see the food being prepared in front of you.  There isn't really a fixed menu and you are served the seafood that the chefs considered to be the best choices out of the market that day.  We waited in line to get a seat at the bar.  The line was long, but everyone was quite happy to sit along the back wall and experience the laughter and banter from the chefs and waiters in front.  They were loud and they were enjoying themselves.  Even as we waited, we weren't ignored and we were able to order bottles of wine to help with the wait.  It's probably the only time I've ever enjoyed lining up.

After we finished our bottle, we reached the front of the line and we were seated at the bar.  The long wait is probably one of the best methods for Cal Pep to drive its business, as watching a variety of different dishes being served to those in front of us meant that we were ravenous.  Our friendly waiter brought us another bottle of wine and asked us what we wanted.  "Chef's choice" was our response, imitating what most others seemed to also chose.  My only requirement was that I wanted one of the plates to be razor clams (though I think they're actually called jackknife clams).  The waiter seemed more than happy with our choice.

The food was as advertised.  Everything was as fresh as I had hoped and just as well cooked.  Each dish was an example of the best that the region's sea had to offer.  I got my clams, we had langoustines, calamari, fish .... all of it cooked to push the fresh flavour of the ingredient.  The waiter was great and continued to joke with us throughout the meal.  The one time he was more serious was when he brought out my razor clams (jackknife clams?), he changed into an instructor and told us that we weren't to use our knives.  He motioned to eat each of the whole clams in one go.  We obeyed his commands, pulled each clam out of its shell by hand and ate them in one mouthful.  His guidance had been right.  After everything arrived and was devoured, Phil looked at me and asked "one more dish?"  Seemed like a good idea.  We asked for one more plate and the waiter arranged it all with a smile.

We hadn't yet reached the point of too much of a good thing, so pushing it a bit further seemed to be the way to go.