Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

Today is our second day in Sydney, but before we get into what we’ve done to today we want to show some pictures from last night. Shortly after we completed our post for yesterday, we saw beautiful fireworks display over the Syndey Opera House. Turns out, there is a short firework show every Saturday night over the opera house.

Sydney is celebrated for the world’s largest natural harbor, founded as a penal colony in 1788. It has since grown into the major cultural center of Australia, beloved for its all-embracing, free -spirited nature. The cultural jewel in its crown is the Sydney Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage Site nestled harborside like a gleaming white sailing ship about to leave port. Adjacent, the Royal Botanic Garden displays one of the world’s most important horticultural collections across its 70 Acres of flora-lined pathways.

Today we took one of Vikings optional excursions, “Sydney Opera House, Harbor and Bondi Beach”. On our way to the tour bus, we ran into Chef Willy who was on his way back from the fish market with a nice haul.

There was a little bit of a repeat from yesterday’s excursion, but the primary focus of this excursion was the Opera House. We did begin by driving through the harbor area and some different areas of Sydney before returning to Bondi Beach. Here are some of the sights we saw.

From the beach we went directly to the Opera House for a one-hour tour provided by Opera House Staff. We posted several pictures of the exterior of the Opera House yesterday, so today I’m going to show an up-close look at the roof tiles that give the Opera House it’s iconic white glow.

Surprise they’re not all white. There is a pattern of white and beige tiles, if they were all white the reflection would be too bright and would be hard to look at. The lobbies and corridors of the Opera House have a very ’70’s feel; very utilitarian, straight lines. I expected it to be more ornate. We were able to visit one small multi- purpose theater called the studio and the Joan Sutherland Theater where musicals and Operas are staged. We were unable to visit the larger Concert Hall, because there was a performance.

Interesting facts about the Sydney Opera House:

1. The original cost estimate to build the Opera House was $7 million Australian. The final cost was $102 million Australian.
2. 233 designs were submitted for an international design competition in 1956. Jorn Utzon from Denmark won.
3. Construction was estimated to take four years, but took 14 years and involved 10,000 construction workers.
4. There are more than 1 million roof tiles and 97% are still the original tiles.
5. More than 10.9 million people visit the opera house every year.

Tomorrow we’ll be at sea, our next port of call is Brisbane, Australia on Tuesday, 20 February.

“Travel makes me modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Gustave Flaubert