Day Five – Back at Sea.

For the first time on this trip we were not awoken with sunshine breaking through the window but by the sound of rain on the balcony. The cloud stayed pretty much all day occasionally being interrupted by downpours of rain sometimes accompanied by thunder and lightening. We thought that this would be a testing day for the ship with few outside activities available how would the facilities cope. Actually not bad at all, whether people decided to stay in their cabins I’m not sure, but although a little busier the inside spaces seemed to cope quite well. There were two Tate lectures today, the first on “Victorian Narrative Paintings” we both attended and found very interesting. In the afternoon the subject matter was the pre-Raphaelites which Sylvia enjoyed although I decided to sit [rather lie on the bed] that one out.

Sylvia is continuing to enjoy her sketching on the balcony, today it was the fresia that had been left in the cabin. Tonight was another formal night so we took our time scrubbing up into our best togs for the visit to XVII.

Sylvia went for a tiered chiffon look with her pearls, while I chose the  traditional tuxedo with purple waistcoat and matching bow-tie.

XVII is the second speciality restaurant on-board and it says that it will take you on a gastronomic journey to the heart of fine dining. I hope to now take you with me on that same journey! After being seated at our table and choosing our meals we were treated to a pre-starter of lemon prawn on a bed of blended pea. Small but delicious and shown below.

For starters Sylvia choose Seared Diver Scallops with green pea risotto and cauliflower latte. The scallops melted in one’s mouth.

While I went for Terrine of duck with Agen prunes, Oxford sauce and homemade oatcakes. Again a delicious way to start a meal.

For my main course I decided on the whole Dover sole a la Meuniere with baby vegetables, but being a little of a coward the waiter de-boned it for me prior to serving. I didn’t want to mess up my dinner jacket!!!

Sylvia was also in a fishy mood choosing fillet of line-caught Cornish sea bass with lobster tail and sauce vierge. Beautifully presented and tasted as good. To accompany the meal I choose a light muscadet.

Next it was the turn of the desserts but not before being served a light pre-dessert of a clotted cream panna cotta with a strawberry filled chocolate tube, or something like that!

For dessert Sylvia went for that old classic crepe suzette flambé with Devonshire ice cream. This was cooked at the table with the waitress explaining all the ingredients as she cooked. The picture does not really do it justice.

I went for [wait for this Oliver]…..expresso popping candy dark chocolate mousse with baileys white chocolate soup, a real chocolate feast. So much so I couldn’t eat the chocolates served with the coffee [which incidentally were delivered to our room later in the evening!].

A wonderful evening with terrific food, in fact we have re-booked for later in the cruise, well worth the £20 per head supplement . Not such good news on the quiz front only achieving 16 out of 20 and may have lost our lead. I can’t remember the questions we got wrong but one was about Emmerdale, must revise before tomorrow. Don’t forget that if you want quizzes visit www.kensquiz.co.uk for all the best quizzes. I trust that all these photos will post correctly!!!!!!

Day Four – Malaga

I awoke this morning at around 6.00 am to see the lights of the Spanish coast passing by our window indicating that we had travelled through the straits of Gibraltar and were now in the Mediterranean. Malaga is just a short way up this coast and this was to be our first stop.

Over breakfast we watched the ship manoeuvre into her moorings , this task being finally completed at 8.30. At this stage the Captain announced we were safely moored and passengers could now proceed ashore. We had not booked any organised tours at this destination as we wanted to explore the town by ourselves. The ship had docked about a mile from the town centre but free shuttle buses had been laid on to avoid the walk through an industrial area. We took one of these buses just around 9.00 after first phoning Victoria to wish Joseph a happy first birthday.

We walked towards the old part of town, avoiding the tout attempting to sell rides in the pony traps, towards the cathedral. The only other time that we have been in Malaga was when we visited Torremolinos when the girls were small, and then that was only briefly.I had no idea that it was such an historically significant town with a Roman amphitheatre and even some Phoenician buildings mixed with the modern office blocks.

The principal place that we wanted to visit was the Picasso museum, the artist being born in Malaga in 1881. Following the lecture that we attended yesterday on-board we were both looking forward to having a fresh look at his work. He was the most prolific of artists with in excess of 30,000 pieces known to be in existence and a goods representation was held at this museum. Picasso himself once said “At eight I could draw like Rafael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like a child”, and you could see the progression from old master to child-like painter in this museum. The lecture and especially the museum visit has really opened my eyes to how good an artist Picasso really was.

After the museum we walked through the winding streets to visit a few souvenir shops and then made our way back through a beautiful park to the shuttle bus. It was lunch-time and we were not going to buy food ashore when it’s free on board.After lunch and the now customary game of table tennis Sylvia returned to the cabin inspired to unpack her water colours to sketch the Costa Del Sol coastline. Meanwhile I retired to a sun lounger to contemplate the day.

As our ship left Malaga we were surprised to see after such a fine day, snow on the distant hills[you can just about see on the above photograph]. The answer to yesterday’s quiz question was Liam Neesom. No question today as there was no quiz but two sea days ahead prior to Greece.

Day Three – At Sea.

The weather today was again fine, although there were a few more clouds in the sky and the wind was a little brisker. Never the less many people were taking advantage of the sun rays before our first stop in Malaga tomorrow.

I thought that as both the comments I have received concerned the eating facilities on board, I would concentrate tonight's entry on food. They say that when you cruise if you do not put on at least a pound for every day of the voyage , then you haven’t been enjoying yourself. On this ship it’s probably a pound and a half!!

Lets start with breakfast. As with all meals you have the choice of a self-service buffet or waiter service, for breakfast Sylvia and I usually choose the first option. The choice is everything you would expect from a first class hotel including cereals, continental meats & cheeses, pastries and of course the full English. The eggs can be scrambled, fried boiled or poached, indeed if none of these options appeal an omelette will be made especially for you. Today both Sylvia and I had scrambled eggs, mushrooms and devilled lamb kidneys, following cereal, fruit and then toast. Just a light snack then!!!

Throughout the day pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, wraps etc. are available from various parts of the ship all at no extra cost, although you do have to pay for ice-cream. The buffet [shown above] is open 24 hours a day changing the breakfast menu to an ever-changing lunch selection, then to afternoon tea [sandwiches, scones and cakes- a selection shown in the picture below] and then a nightly speciality dinner menu. This will change from such as a “Best of British”, Mediterranean, Indian, Country & Western etc. , in other words something for everyone.

When booking the cruise we had to choose between “Club” or “Freedom Dining”, the former is the traditional method where you get allocated a table and sitting at the start of the cruise. You stay on the same table for each dinner, a great way of getting to know your fellow diners, always presuming that you want to!! On “Freedom Dining”, the option we have chosen you can pick the time and indeed the restaurant in which you want to eat on a nightly basis. The restaurant serves the same six- course meal as the Club dining all served “silver Service” style. For example tonight’s menu included cod, beef, pork and even venison [cue dead deer joke!!!!!!]. In addition to the buffet and the traditional dining rooms this ship has two specialist restaurants, Siddhu [Indian] and XVII [a la carte]. To dine in these venues involves a small supplement, we ate in Siddhu yesterday and have booked XVII for Friday. [ A full report will follow then.]

Tonight was the first production show in the theatre entitled “Destination Dance”. I have to attend these shows, you understand to check out the quality of the dancers…..I mean dancing. The cast was made up of twelve singers and dancers and the production was superb. I’ve noticed that the audio-visual equipment on this ship is really state of the art and this show used it to full effect. Strobes, pyrotechnics and giant video screens accompanied the casts through dances depicting a journey across the world featuring Spanish, French[can-can], Country & Western, African and Irish dances. Great entertainment.

We won the quiz again, it returns on the next sea day which is Friday. Yesterday’s answers were Lord (Jeffrey) Archer wrote “The Fourth Estate” and The Chemical Brothers recorded the album. Only one question tonight, Who provided the voice of Asland in the recent film of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”? – Answer tomorrow.

Day Two – At Sea.

Firstly an apology regarding the lack of pictures on yesterday’s entry. Due to the cost of internet connection on board, I am using Live Writer to compose the blog off-line. For some reason the formatting, which looks fine on the computer, changes when posted. It doesn’t seem to like too many pictures!!! From now on I will only put a couple of photos on per post , I am sure that we will post the most interesting ones on Facebook on our return.

I also forgot to mention that we went to our first show last night, unintentionally! We went to the theatre to see the introduction of the Entertainment team, arriving late we sat in the front row. We were surprised to find that this introduction was immediately followed by ‘the act’, comic-magician Martin Daniels [son of Paul]. We narrowly escaped a visit to the stage, a fate that was to fall to the man sat next to me. Having said all that it was a very entertaining show.

Now to today….firstly the sun was shining!! This is where having a balcony really comes into it’s own as after a leisurely breakfast we were able to sit soaking up the morning sun. We also found the table-tennis, the short tennis court and the deck quoits. We gave them all a go , being more successful at some more than others.

This cruise is one of P&O’s speciality cruises called a Tate cruise and on-board are several experts from the gallery. Today was the first of a series of lectures on great painters, today’s being on Turner. It was a very well presented talk from a gallery guide who obviously enjoyed his job and had a genuine enthusiasm for the subject. We both look forward to future presentations.

Tonight was the first formal night of the cruise and we had booked into Siddhu, the on-board Indian restaurant. This however is not just ordinary Indian as it is run by Atul Kochhur, the ‘Master of Spices’, the first Indian chef to gain a Michelin star. The food was superb, delicately spiced but very tasty. You’ll get an idea of the meal from the photo of our sweets.

Oh and by the way, Sylvia and I together with some new found friends from Carrickfergus, won the lunchtime quiz. Unlike previous trips this is a progressive quiz meaning that the scores are added daily through the cruise. We will try to continue where we started!!!  Two questions we got wrong were Who wrote the novel “The Fourth Estate” ?  and Who released the award winning album “Surrender” in 1997? – Any Guesses???? ………………Answers tomorrow.

Boarding the Azura.

After months of anticipation today was the day that we would turn those pictures of Azura into reality. We left home at 10.00 am for a very uneventful journey to Southampton. The roads were quiet, there were few road works and no traffic hold-ups, until we got about a mile from the docks. It was here that we got the first impression of how big the ship was and therefore how many passengers would be boarding at the same time as us. Having dropped the car off and relieved ourselves of our luggage we joined the queues for registration. Like at the deli counter in Tesco every one was given a coloured card with a letter on it, ours was Green ‘M’. It was only when the announcement called Red ‘P’ did we realise that we could be in for a long wait. Actually it wasn’t that long and the seats were comfortable and the time passed quickly as we were in conversation with a couple from Sydney, Australia [and we thought we had travelled a long way!!].

In all I guess we spent around an hour waiting but after having had our photos taken, for the identity cards used on board, and the credit card authorised for the on-board spend, we were ready to board the ship.

The first impressions of “Azura” were how big it was and how new it felt. All around the ship was that smell of freshly laid carpet and everywhere was so clean. First stop was the buffet to sample some lunch and pass some time while our stateroom [that’s the posh name for cabin] was prepared. There was a good selection of food available but I will give more details as we get into the cruise.

For this cruise we have a balcony cabin around mid-ship, unfortunately unlike in Australia we were not up-graded so had to be satisfied with what we paid for!. The room itself is well furnished, double bed, desk and walk in wardrobe. A great plus is the tea and coffee making facilities which means that I don’t have to make any late night visits to the buffet for Sylvia’s last cup of tea of the day. The balcony is small with two chairs a footstool and table, but perfectly okay for our needs. While Sylvia unpacked I took advantage of a few minutes on the balcony and Sylvia later joined me.

After the usual lifejacket drill the ship departed Southampton and we had a good walk around trying to get our bearings. We found the specialist Indian restaurant “Sindhu”, and booked for tomorrow night.[A full report to follow the meal]. Here are some photos of our first wander.

The clocks go forward tonight which, until Sylvia corrected me a few moments ago , I thought meant an extra hour in bed tomorrow. So as it’s now 12.15 I better finish. More to follow tomorrow.

On Your [Saint] Marks, Get Set……………….

Welcome back to Robbins Ramblings, we’re off on holiday again! On Monday we’ll be boarding P&O’s brand new ship “Azura” leaving Southampton for a 16 night cruise around the Mediterranean.

The cruise takes in Malaga, Katakolon (in Greece for ancient Olympia), Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula (Croatia) and lastly Gibraltar before returning to Southampton.

It’s the first time we’ve sailed with P&O and with the ship being so new [only it’s third voyage] it should be very exciting. We’ll try to give you a full run-down on the ship and all it’s facilities together with a view of the places that we visit. If you have any questions as we go on our journey please ask and we’ll do our best to answer them.

I’ve changed the format of the blog, let me know what you think, and you may notice the odd advert on the site. The occassional click on these may contribute to our next holiday!!!

Right, where did I put the passports?????

The Last Day

Today is the last day in Hong Kong and in fact the last day of the holiday. Sylvia is ready to be home, a month is a long time to away. After having a little lie-in this morning we decided to have breakfast in the hotel. Although this was a little pricey it was a good buffet that meant we didn't need to eat until we got to the airport. After having a quick walk around the block to look at the harbour and shops we returned to pack. As always we had much more to take back than we had brought but it all got in somehow. We had arranged a late check-out which meant we could stay in the room until 4.00pm but as the car was due at 8.30 this gave us plenty of time to kill.

We spent the early afternoon exploring the pool area, today being the only day when the weather had been good enough. We would have enjoyed these facilities if it had remained dry during our stay. We then returned to the room and watched TV and waited until our baggage was picked up. After spending around an hour in a coffee shop, we sat in the lobby of the hotel watching the comings and goings on a busy Saturday evening. The car arrived early and we were at the airport by 8.45, sat in the lounge eating sandwiches and drinking tea.

I have enjoyed writing about the holiday and I hope that you have all enjoyed reading the entries, even if they were a little boring at times. Thanks to all those who made comments and registered as followers,by the way who is Tigi-S? Now where shall we go for our next holiday????

Day Thirty-One – Victoria Peak

Firstly an apology regarding the layout of yesterday’s entry. I am using “Live Writer” in order that I can compose off-line and only go onto the internet to publish. When I reviewed the page it seemed okay but when it was posted the format changed, it’s something to do with the photos I think!! Having now spent several days in HK without leaving Kowloon we thought it was time to visit HK island. The day had started off promisingly weather-wise so as we walked to catch the Star ferry we thought we had made a good decision. The ferries leave about every 10 minutes and the short journey across the harbour takes about the same time. We walked from the quayside towards the Peak Tram terminus along the covered walkway that leads you through different office blocks,shops and skyscrapers. Without making too many wrong turns we reached the end only to find it had started raining.

The peak tram has been in operation since 1888 and takes you up around 400m to the viewing point. The best views of the city’s skyline and the harbour are reckoned to seen from this vantage point, but not today!!! The following photo shows the view we had.We spent a while looking at the shops and having a cup of coffee, but the situation didn’t improve. In fact the rain just got heavier, so we decided to go back down the tram way. By the time we reached the bottom the rain was torrential and we took refuge in the Royal Bank of Scotland building where a helpful lady advised us on the best way back to the ferry.  This entailed a short walk outside in the rain before returning to the covered walkway, where, after asking directions a couple of times we found ourselves back at the ferry terminal.

Today for lunch we decided to eat at a restaurant in the shopping centre next to the hotel. We had the set lunch menu with Sylvia choosing soup(of unknown variety),beef and vegetable rice, while I had chicken,mushroom and noodles with a mixed meat congee. This was like a thick porridge with some vegetables and actually tasted quite nice but  afterwards I had to check on the internet to find out what it was. When we came back to the room the rain and the mist had cleared and Victoria Peak was clearly visible!!! I’m  not going back up there now though.

Last day tomorrow I’ll try to post from the airport if there’s time.

Day Thirty – A Foggy Kowloon

Every evening at 8.00pm the harbour front hosts “A Symphony of Lights”, a spectacular light and sound show covering more than 40 buildings on both sides of the harbour.  The best views can be had from the Avenue of Stars just outside the hotel and it was from here that we watched it last night. The photos probably don’t do it justice but it is a sight definitely worth seeing. The show lasts for around 20 minutes and the whole of the harbour front was packed even though the night was foggy and damp. Hopefully before we leave we will have the chance to see the display in the clear.

When we woke up this morning the weather forecast said it would be a foggy morning with the chance of heavy rain. I can tell you that this was pretty accurate. At first we couldn’t see the opposite side of the bay and therefore decided that once again it would be pointless trying to go to Peak as there would be no view.  Instead we chose to go to the Hong Kong Museum of History located about half a mile away on Chatham Road, where there is a permanent exhibition telling the story of HK from prehistoric times to the present day. It was a great decision as apart from the hoards of school children we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Admission was a very reasonable 10HK$ (equivalent to less than a pound) and unlike most museums they were perfectly happy for photos to be taken. One of the most interesting exhibits described the opium wars and the Cession of HK to Britain which was a part of history I had never come across before. Sylvia enjoyed the “Folk Culture” section which outlined the colourful customs of the four main ethnic groups through the ages. We also stopped here for lunch Sylvia having a Portuguese Chicken and rice dish and me a duck and prawn(with chips), the total cost including a soup starter and drinks was less than £7 for both. Excellent value and very tasty!!

We started to walk back to the hotel stopping in shops as the mood took us and buying a few souvenirs.  It was while in one of the shops that the heavens opened and I mean opened. A couple who came in from  the rain described how they saw the storm coming up the road with people running in front of it. On our return to the room we sat and watched the lightning over the harbour after which the sky cleared a little giving us the best view yet of Hong Kong island.

Day Twenty-nine – A Damp Hong Kong

We awoke this morning to see a cruise ship,”Rotterdam”, sailing past the window. It seems we can’t get away from the nautical theme this holiday.  Unfortunately the weather  today was pretty poor with fog and drizzle for most of the day, this meant that we really couldn’t do much sight seeing, so spent the day exploring the area around the hotel.

The Intercontinental is brilliantly located on Kowloon overlooking the harbour and Hong Kong island and most of the sights  are within walking distance.  Along the harbour front is the Avenue of the Stars,HK’s answer to the Hollywood walk of Fame, consisting of handprints of many famous Chinese actors. Like the literary walk in Sydney I didn’t know many of the artists excepting , of course , Bruce Lee. (No mention of Hong Kong Phooey though!). These two adjoining plaques amused us.

Shopping is what HK does best and within easy reach of the hotel are several malls including Harbour City , the largest one in Hong Kong. These include all the top-end stores that you would expect alongside some local variants. In addition Kowloon boasts several markets selling designer bags, watches and clothing which if you’re lucky may be genuine.In fact something for everyone and we spent the day looking at most of them. The only downside are the touts on each street corner trying to entice you to tailors or fake watch shops.

Just to show that we do read the comments that you post, firstly for Oliver ,here is the TV and sound system (i-pod not included).

And secondly to Rosemary, the hotel room is fantastic especially the marble bathroom and the marvellous view, but unless you are prepared to spend the children’s inheritance it is better to eat and drink elsewhere.(for example breakfast £28 +10% service charge and that’s not all you can eat!!!!!) Make sure that you stipulate a harbour view room on a high floor if possible, you will be disappointed if you don’t. Tonight we are off to Starbucks to post the blog(20 minutes free wi-fi versus £15 in the hotel!).

Day Twenty-eight – On to Hong Kong

As always when we are travelling we were up early this morning and as we had packed the previous night,we checked out of the hotel by 8.00. The taxi to the airport was quicker than we had anticipated , so much so that when we arrived we were too early to check in. Having waited for about half an hour we checked in and cleared immigration before going to the Qantas business lounge. The facilities here didn’t match the BA lounge in Heathrow with only cereal, toast and a few bakery items on the breakfast menu. If you were a drinker there was a good choice even at this time in the morning. The one good thing was the free internet facility which allowed us not only to check our e—mails but also to chat to Helena in her bed at Victoria’s house.

The boarding of the flight went smoothly and after a slight delay due to some luggage problems we were on our way to Hong Kong. I had a little dilemma when it came to the entertainment on offer as virtually all the nominated Oscar films were available. After choosing to start my film-fest with “The Wrestler” I settled down on my seat. Only about 20mins into the film and there was an announcement that some people were unable to receive the films and the system would need re-booting, an hour later the system came back on. I decided to have a change of pace so watched “Four Holidays” (and before anyone says it ,no it wasn’t Oscar nominated), at the end of which the movie system packed in completely. A number of passengers including me complained and eventually they put on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” onto the system. As the film was beginning to reach its climax the pilot announced we were on the approach to Hong Kong and the entertainment was turned off.A very poor effort Qantas, although the $50 duty free voucher came in handy. The quality and quantity of food on the flight was also poor in my opinion, BA is much superior no matter what Michael Winner says!!!

The arrival at Hong Kong went very smoothly taking only 30 minutes from touch down to getting into our car, and 25 minutes later we were entering our hotel. Sylvia asked on the way into town which side they drive on here. Judging by our driver it doesn’t matter as he changed lanes continually overtaking and undertaking where necessary.  The first impressions of the hotel is that it looks superb with spectacular views over the harbour(The pictures don’t really do justice to it) There is a 37inch Sharp LCD TV together with a BOSE sound system including CD/DVD player and I-pod connector. No TV in the bath though!!!! Watched the light spectacular on Hong Kong island which takes place every night at 8.00pm, I will try to get some photos tomorrow

Day Twenty–Seven – The Last Day in Sydney

It was just a lazy day today as we didn’t want to venture too far,so we redid some walks that we had done before and a couple of new ones.  After breakfast we strolled up the hill at the back of the hotel to the Old Observatory, part of the Powerhouse museum. Although we didn’t go into the building itself the bandstand gave views over both Darling Harbour and Circular   Quay. Like several of the days we have been in Sydney the early morning weather didn't look too good but as always it just got better as the morning went on.Coming down from the Observatory we walked along the quay to the Opera House, where for the first time we walked along the lower concourse. All along the quayside are brass plaques set into the pavement commemorating great authors who have an Australian association. Many of these I have heard of like Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer and Clive James, but many I haven't, also some of the authors such as D H Lawrence seem to have a rather slim linkage to this country.

Everywhere one walks in this area you get a view of the bridge and I don’t know if it’s the most photographed structure in the world but it must be in the top ten.(Editors note:- Actually checking on internet it’s probably not- The Eiffel Tower is number 1 apparently!!!)  It is an impressive structure from whichever way you look at it but it seems to have been built just like a giant  Meccano set. Just look at the size of these nuts.

Around the Rocks area there are a number of sculptures to celebrate the history of the area, one of the most striking of which  is adjacent to our hotel. This  shows the three groups of earliest residents of the area , families, soldiers and convicts.  

Around the corner there is a more modern contribution to the Art in the community project.

Sydney has been a great place to visit with the highlight of the trip being the visit to the Blue Mountains, however the general buzz around circular quay and the Rocks has been brilliant. Overall we couldn’t have wished for a better place to stay. In the eight days that we have spent here we have seen most everything that was on our list so next time it will have to be Melbourne or Perth.

Next stop Hong Kong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day Twenty-Six – An early morning swim & a good walk.

Before you get too excited we didn’t swim but watched hundreds of others doing so as today was the day for the annual Sydney Harbour swim. After hearing on the television this morning of the third shark attack in the area within the last three weeks there was an air of great anticipation in the crowd. After a short celebrity race of 800m , the main event consisted of 1km and 2km races. The 1km race being won by a nineteen year girl who announced that she was going to get a drink and then swim the 2km event, some people do show off. Fortunately there was no sign of any sharks and the swim passed off peacefully.

The race was held from the steps of the Opera House just inside the Botanical Gardens. These gardens occupy around 74 acres in the heart of the city and are home to a magnificent collection of plants,shrubs and trees from Australia and overseas. We decided to walk across the path to the area known as Woolloomooloo and took the following photos on the route.

  

The reason for the walk through the park was to visit one of Sydney’s most famous eateries, Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, a mobile snack van that has been part of the city’s life since 1945. Here I had a bacon & egg roll and Sylvia had a hot dog and we joined the list of the rich and famous who had ate here. These include Elton John,Brigitte Bardot and even Colonel Sanders (probably testing out the opposition) and of course…Rolf Harris. From Harrys it was a short walk to the art gallery of New South Wales, where we had a stroll around the 20th Century Australian exhibition. It was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning but I wasn’t overly impressed by the collection.

The walk continued across the area known as “The Domain”,into Hyde Park to look at St. Mary’s Cathedral. We were unsure as we approached whether this was an Anglican or a Roman Catholic church,  but the statue outside of Pope John Paul gave the game away. We didn’t go in as there was a mass in progress but sat outside and admired the spires which were finished in 2000.

Over the precinct from the cathedral stands the Australian Museum that in addition to being the nation’s premier showcase of natural history, contains a brilliant exhibition of “Indigenous Australians”. This contains many artefacts of the Aboriginal people and explained many of their beliefs and faith known as “The Dreaming”. We also had a presentation of native songs and dances including a performance on the didgeridoo, which was quite remarkable even though I kept thinking he was going to burst into “Sun Arise”.

Across the road and back into Hyde Park we passed the Anzac Memorial,  built to commemorate the Australians who were killed in the wars,before entering a food and drink fair. Here people were sampling wines from all over Australia and food from across the World.As it was now getting quite warm we decided to walk further into town to eat inside. After eating we walked back to the hotel passing several street entertainers on the quay. Of particular note was a female contortionist who attracted a large crowd with her amazing athletics.

It was reported in a Sydney paper earlier this week that one of the few areas that the economy was improving was cruising and today was referred to as “Super Sunday” in Sydney as there were no less than 4 cruise ships in port. At the overseas passenger terminal was “Crystal Serenity”, at Darling Harbour “Pacific Dawn”, and out in the bay “Celebrity Millennium” and “Aurora”. It was no wonder that Sydney has been buzzing all weekend and with another ship  due in the morning it will make eight since “Rhapsody” left on Tuesday night.