So now even I can say I’ve been to Sydney! 😀 My host mum, a friend of hers, Eva and I arrived in Sydney around 8am last Friday. We weren’t able to check in to our hotel until 2pm, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel and then took a wander around Sydney. We went and had a look at the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House first, and after that we went and had a quick look at “Paddy’s Markets”. The markets were in Chinatown, and therefore those markets sell all kind of (cheap) stuff.. If you’re lucky you can find a few nice cheap things, but there are also a lot of designer clothing, bags etc. which you’d have to pay a bit more for. After we had checked in to our hotel (“Hyde Park Inn”) we went and met up with Jas’ sister and her daughter and son. In the evening Eva and I went out again too explore Sydney at night.. I was surprise how many shops still were open at 9pm!

On the Saturday we headed off to Bondi Beach. I have to say the beach itself wasn’t much more special than for example the beaches over on Straddie, but I really liked Bondi, the town. There are many nice little shops and cafes with views over the ocean. Jas dared Eva and me to go and ask a lifeguard to get a photo with him, so off we went, looking for the most good-looking lifeguard we could find and asked him if we could get a photo with him, which we could, although I think he was a bit puzzled.. Typical European tourists he must have thought. On our way back in to Sydney we stopped at the “Paddington Markets”. Those markets really had a lot of nice things, although everything was a lot more expensive than at “Paddy’s Markets” as everything was self-designed art craft, and therefore I could only afford to buy myself a bracelet. In the evening, after we had gone out for dinner, we walked down to Darling Harbour, which was magical! There were street performers entertaining the people, bars, restaurants, cafes, clubs and we even were lucky enough to see fireworks. I think that is definitely one part of Sydney that never sleeps.. But although there were a lot of people it was still a great place to be at on a Saturday night. I wish we had something like that near where I live in Switzerland!

The next day we took the ferry over to Manly, which I also really liked. Manly Beach wasn’t a lot more special than Bondi Beach, except that it was quite a bit longer. Manly isn’t very big at all, but there are still a few good (and expensive) shops around. The rest of the day Eva and I went and did a bit of shopping around Sydney on our own. By Sunday we had gotten quite comfortable with finding our way around Sydney, and at the end of the day we even found our way back to the hotel again. 😉

On Monday it was time to fly back home again, but only after we had allowed ourself one of the sweetest looking cupcakes I have ever seen.. They were delicious! We arrived at home again at about 4pm, but not for very long as I had a “War and Peace” concert at school the same evening, so I only had a quarter of an hour time at home to get changed and to pack my things for the evening. I accompanied Blake (guitar and vocals) on the violin to the song “Hero Of War” by Rise Against (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DboMAghWcA). I think we did quite well. 🙂

Street dancer doing acrobatics with his belly! (at Darling Harbour)