History

Our Thursday morning wasn´t the most efficient one and we didn´t leave Geegal until noon. Silja had been reading someone´s blog who recommended a visit at Vaucluse House so we took a bus there. Since there aren´t that many historical buildings in Sydney it was definately worth spending an hour in the bus. The house was build in 1828 and is one of Australia´s finest mansions. It´s decorated like people of the 19th century were still living there, which made it really interesting. Wealthy families have obviously had comfortable homes already 200 years ago. They also seem to have quite a few family rooms each used at a different time of the day. We walked around in the house and the gardens surrounding it before taking a bus to St Mary´s Cathedral, which is located in the city centre, next to Hyde Park. The cathedral has an impressive roof, beautiful paintings and windows made of colorful glass pictures. It felt a bit weird there´s a tourist shop in a church, but it didn´t seem to bother the people praying there, and neither did all the tourists. Visiting both the house and the cathedral makes you think how much effort people have put into building impressive and beautiful buildings in the old days.

The Vaucluse House dining room

St Mary´s Cathedral

After having lunch and coffee at a food court at some mall we walked to Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium. It´s one of the few places that are open late. Most museums, shops, cafes and restaurants at food courts close as early as around 6pm. The aquarium was great! The fish, reefs, seahorses and everything were really beautiful with their bright colors and unique shapes. Some of them even glow in dark making them look kind of unreal. I got to spot Nemo and his friend (from the movie Finding Nemo)! There were also sharks and crocodiles there. The sharks looked scary with their sharp teeth, especially getting to watch them from a tunnel build under the pool. I never knew some fish can grow as big as 180cm! And I don´t mean just sharks, but some pretty ordinary looking fish.

Crocodile with its warning sign :)

Beautiful sealife

Since we weren´t feeling too tired after visiting the museum we decided to take a train to Milsons Point, which is on the other side of the Harbour Brige and cross the bridge. It was a nice walk with a good view over Sydney. It´s hard to explain the feeling being in a big city at night and seeing all the skyscrapers and lights. I guess it has something to do with feeling kind of free but still like being a part of something. I like being surrounded by lots of people and activities (for most of the time) and opportunities to do whatever.

Standing on the Harbour Bridge