Wednesday, September 14, 2016

A trip into the city

Robin had suggested that we visit the Australian Museum so we toddled down to the bus stop near the ferry to take a bus into the city. It was a change from taking the ferry.


It costs $3.50 to take the bus to the Museum and $5.84 by ferry and bus.


Marianne suggested we do a selfie. Personally I'm not too enthused about selfies but of course I complied. I am an old fuddy duddy.


Inside the bus which was quite comfortable.


Back in 1970, I lived in Sydney and took a bus into town each work day. It took the best part of an hour to do a few miles. Now there is a lane for buses and the journey takes much less time.



The buses have a mesh covering the windows that reduces the amount of sun inside the bus. Shade is important in the hot bright sun.


We got out of the bus at Town Hall.


Marianne wanted to buy some thread at a nearby shop so to get there we walked through the old Queen Victoria Building.


The building is now a luxury shopping area.





A suitable container for your Ugg Boots.




It's a really interesting building to walk through.



This is a confusing photo but it's actually a photo of a descending escalator that is covered in mirrors. Even in real life it is very confusing.






It's all a visual delight, possibly one of the most amazing buildings I have seen.


Normally this is the main street of Sydney. Years ago trams ran along here but they were replaced in 1959 by buses. Now the streets are closed to install a light rail system.


One of the stations for the underground trains.


Behind the station is Sydney's version of Hyde Park.





Notice the banana trees.




Another view of the Cathedral.





The Australian Museum. There is a separate blog entry.



Captain Cook made an appearance. Incidentally I was wondering what happened to him when he died and you can read the story here.


We decided to walk to China Town to have lunch and happened to pass by the War Memorial. I had never been inside so it was a chance to do so.


It was completed in 1934.


The ceiling is quite unusual. The ceiling has 120,000 gold stars, one for each of the New South Wales volunteers in WWI.


The eternal flame.


Some of the battles at Gallipoli. I went there last year and you can read about it here.


Of course, Australians fought in many of the famous battles of WWI.


There are so many tall buildings in Sydney now.


Some of the tall buildings are more interesting than others.



Another of the underground stations on the City Circle Line.






It was a popular department store.


The store closed in 1980.



The Masonic Lodge. Robin went there when it was open to the public on an Open Sydney Day and she said it was very interesting.



Interesting pub. Very stylish.



One of Robin's favourite restaurants.


Whatever it was, it was delicious.




After lunch we walked up to Central Station.


The main concourse.


Passengers lined up for Australia's longest and most famous train trip, the Indian Pacific.


This was interesting. The train is so long that it does not fit in one platform. The train is split into two.


So as a passenger you hop onto a carriage on the left or right.


Departures board. I can't go into a station like this without wanting to get on a train and go somewhere. Anywhere.



Crusie ship near Circular Quay.


I am hoping we can get to our 80's before we go on one of these. We know that any other people of our age enjoy cruise ships, but we are just not ready for them yet. Probably we would enjoy the experience more than we realize.


We took the ferry back to Woolwich. A seagull walked back and forth with a piece of nylon string dragging behind it. We tried to loosen it but it was attached to a wing and would not come off. Marianne talked to one of the deck hands who managed to cut off most of the string.


An older ferry going for an outing. It did not seem to have any passengers.


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