The Sydney Finale - the Bridge Climb and the Opera House

OK...thanks for sticking in there...this is it...the end of the Sydney narrative. The highlight of the trip was taking part in the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Since 1998, it has been possible to fork over a stupid amount of money and climb the Bridge, which took eight years to build (1924-1932).

We gladly did this and it was worth every single dollar. What an amazing experience! At the top of the Bridge, you are afforded 360 degree views of Sydney and its environs. We could see all the way out to the Blue Mountains the morning we made our ascent. It's an awesome three and a half hours. They don't fool around though - lots of instruction, reassurance, and a breathalyzer test all for good measure. They also don't allow anything even resembling your own camera on the climb. No way, no how are you getting your own camera up there, no matter where you hide the thing. Which explains why I have no pictures of us climbing or from the top o'the Bridge for you (you can get a snippet of the experience by clicking on the link at the start of the post). They do, however, take a slew of pictures of you while on the climb. You do get one group photo for free and then as you walk through the Gift Shop (they took very good notes from Disney) at the end of the ride, you see all the other pictures they took of you. It's wicked hard to say no to at least one. We did buy one, but our stupid, lame scanner is not working, so no posting of that photo. I am completely serious in saying that this is something you should not miss! We had such a good time and will have memories forever about our climb. If you do go, see if you can get Max as your Climb Guide. He was ours and he's great. Studying several languages right now so he can one day work at the UN. He's ready now, if you ask me.

Now, a last word about Sydney's other world-renowned icon, the Opera House. Call me blasphemous, but when you get close to it, it just screams 'Mike Brady School of Architecture.' It is quite a testament to the late 60's/early 70's architechtural style, which is to say, yikes. From a distance, it's stunning, but when you get up close...it's like "Butterface," but for a building. RE "butterface," if you have to ask...email me. Here's some long views of the building:


When you get close, you find out that the roof is covered, and I mean COVERED, in thousands of mosaic tiles. Who even knew?! See what I mean:

We did learn that a much-needed renovation of the Opera House interior is about to begin. They'll be spending something north of $700 Million AUD to bring it into the new Millenium...apparently nothing much has changed since it opened in 1973. Ouch.

Australia was simply amazing. We had a great, great time. It was wonderful to spend a week with Shari. We laughed a lot and just shared a lot of precious time together. Count your blessings, though, as it spared you from some posts about the Clintons' behavior at the DNC as well as McCain's wild, patronizing pick of Sarah Palin for VP. Suffice to say, the Mitt-ites aren't a happy bunch. Just take a look at the handiwork of Mike Luckovich from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and his take on Mitt's reaction. Brilliant.