Off to Sydney!!

Four a.m. arrived early but I think it was more like 4:30 before I dragged my butt out of bed.  Gotta tell you that bed in the spare bedroom at Natalie's was soooo comfortable it was hard most days to get up right away and at 4 a.m., even though we were going to Sydney, it was even that much harder.  But get up I did and soon we were off to the airport and Sydney.

A Sydney Street

Arriving in Sydney it was a bit disappointing to see it overcast and threatening rain and rain it did off and on but never the less we still did our fair share of walking around the wharf.  We also took the above ground train around the CBD of Sydney to see what we could see.

Looking into submarine

We walked down to the wharf and did a tour of a World War II battleship and submarine...well actually Natalie did the submarine but we both did the battleship.  When I got to the hatch where you'd go down into the submarine I took a picture and decided I wasn't up to being claustrophobic...it just looked so very claustrophobic to me.   

One very crabby seagull

Park Benches in Hyde Park

About mid afternoon Natalie headed off to the hotel after having afternoon tea and watching probably one of the most cantankerous seagulls I have ever witness bully any and all other seagulls ruthlessly.  This guy really thought he owned that corner of the wharf!  

I took the long way through the Royal Botanic Gardens and walked along the government district back to the hotel taking a ton of pictures as I went.  I particularly liked Hyde Park which was just around the corner from the hotel and found the trees particularly magnificent in their unique forms especially the fig trees...so much character showing.

Barristers

Walking along 'government row' which I believe was Macquarie street I was quite tickled to see two barristers standing in their court dress, wig & all, waiting to cross the street.  I'm not sure one would see an attorney in this dress in the states but who knows. Interestingly wigs were first worn in court as a result of the general fashion that begun under Charles II in the 1660s.  The powdered white or grey legal wig, made from horsehair, had become a custom by the end of the 18th century.  It is actually quite interesting reading about all the customs and formality observed by the legal system in Australia & England but I doubt since it hasn't caught on here in the U.S. yet that it ever will...not sure if that is such a bad thing either!

If you would like to see more pictures taken around Sydney here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow