One week ago today, I married the love of my life. It was the most beautiful and memorable celebration! While I have an endless amount of things I could say about my husband and our wedding, I will stop there, and in the spirit of my TRAVEL blog, I will get straight to the honeymoon.
As most of you know, Sydney, Australia has a special place in the hearts of Scott and myself, and played a large role in the early stages of our LONG distance relationship. We decided Sydney would be a special place to begin our honeymoon. After 18 hours of in-flight time from Texas to Sydney, we finally arrived in Oz four days ago. The weather was beautiful, and the Vivid Light Festival had just begun all around the city, which Scott and I enjoyed together three years ago in 2014.
We have had an action-packed four days so far, averaging about 20,000 steps a day ;) So I don't bore you with too many details, here is a brief overview for family & friends of what we have been up to (and what we have been eating!) the past few days:
Thursday, June 1
-Walked all around Circular Quay (where the famous Sydney Opera House, historic Rocks District, and Australia's oldest botanical gardens are) and reminisced of our times here three years ago. We did a great deal of walking from lookout points, to parks, through the gardens and around the Opera House.
-Walked to Darling Harbour and watched the Vivid light show there, ate dinner on the second floor of a restaurant overlooking the harbour, and thanks to some slight jet lag, were in bed by 9pm.
Friday, June 2
-Cruised all around Sydney Harbour for about two hours total, seeing the Opera House, Fort Denison (where the misbehaved convicts were deserted in the middle of the harbour as punishment), Taronga Zoo, Garden Island, Shark Island, Watson's Bay and Luna Park
-Wonderful walking/hiking in Watson's Bay with cliffs overlooking vast ocean views. Stopped for some famous Doyle's fish 'n chips and watched a group of Asians lose their drone in the water off the pier
-Saw a magic show in one of Sydney's most historic (and most haunted) buildings
-Enjoyed ramen in Sydney's Chinatown near our hotel
Saturday, June 3
-PLANNED to spend the afternoon biking Manly Beach on a tandem bicycle, but the cold & rain ruined our plans and we happily enjoyed some vanilla lattes at a beachfront cafe and watched the rain
-One thing I like about Australians is that, like Texans, they think that 60 degrees is absolutely freezing. Despite the cold, there were still tons of surfers in the water, something Manly is famous for.
-Ate dinner on the 36th floor of Shangri La Hotel which overlooks Sydney Harbour (oysters, caviar, and octopus were a few of the things we ate). This was a great view for all of the Vivid light installations, especially the projections onto the Opera House.
Sunday, June 4
-Walked to Hyde Park and went to morning mass in St. Mary's Cathedral (the most gorgeous Catholic cathedral I've ever seen!!), like I used to when I lived here three years ago
-Lunch and cocktails at The Opera Kitchen, right outside of the Opera House
-Met a friendly Aussie on the ferry who is a journalist and newspaper columnist. He was the second person here to ask us about President Trump, to which we never know exactly how to react and try to avoid the subject of American politics altogether.
-Currently resting up in the hotel room before dinner, which will be kangaroo steak tonight!
-Ashley
