Excursion

Monday:

I've been needed to go into the city for a while to lodge some forms in person regarding our home purchase (the lawyers would have done it, for a fee! Tim works over the other side of the harbour, so it wasn't practical for him) but have delayed due to the heat, it is going to be cooler this week but also raining so I decided that heat was the lesser evil and went today before the storms started (and not a moment too soon, the clouds rolled in before I'd been back home an hour). I don't mind a bit of rain, but didn't relish the idea of walking around the city in storms and maybe hail.

At that time of morning (after getting the kids to school) there was no parking near the station so I had a bit of a walk, then a train ride of nearly an hour. Australian trains are pretty good, and air conditioned! And it was after peak hour so there was plenty of seats.

My excursion took me to the older part of the city which is rather attractive. Hyde Park:

St Mary's Cathedral (Gothic Architecture was all the rage in Sydney a couple of hundred years ago, I love it):

This is the building I had to go to, quite attractive for a government office:

It took nearly an hour of waiting my turn, but was otherwise easy. I then went to a rather more modern building and had lunch. This was my view upwards through the glass ceiling:

I chose Chinese food, as I often do, and quite often I'm disappointed! I really need to stop thinking it's the easy safe option. It was pretty bad, very greasy and I mainly ate the rice on the side. This seemed to justify trying - as I've wanted to since I heard of them - a cronut! This is a cross between a croissant and a donut. Mine had chocolate cream inside and a macaron on top. OMG it was great. The best pastry I've ever had. Flaky and fluffy and chocolately. Some things are just worth the calories (and the $8.50 price tag).

I did a bit of shopping - it's Tim's birthday next weekend and my sister-in-law Ping AND my niece! But didn't get much. I found the enormous shopping centre - 5 floors over two city blocks - rather overwhelming and I didn't know where anything was or what I wanted to buy anyway. I was tired and hot and wanted to go home. And I had to be home in time for the kids getting home from school.

Here is our Town Hall - more Gothic:

Some river or other we crossed on the train.

Then a hot trudge back to the car with a heavy bag - 10,000 steps today! And back home to collapse. I grew up here in Sydney but in the suburbs, I'm not really a city girl. But it's fun to visit sometimes.