Today was a much- needed day at sea after a marathon two-day stay in Sydney. It's hard to imagine that all of Sydney has a population over 6 million people. And they have evolved to handle it quite well. Our first visit here was back in the 1990's, and since then, we have witnessed so many improvements especially in the transportation department. The older buildings have been renovated and new ones have sprung up. And what about Barangaroo? We have seen a total rebirth of this entire area of Darling Harbor. Good job Sydney.
So it took most of the day to work on photos. We had covered a lot of ground on our hike which was invigorating to say the least. Our only disappointment was the fact that our favorite wood-fired pizza restaurant was gone. We had checked their website for opening times and saw nothing about the fact they had closed their doors. Hopefully they will re-open a new restaurant on Harrington Street, which is nearby to the old place.
With the time change, we expected a full house in the Pinnacle Grill this morning. However, there were only a few of us at 7:30am. Some of the regulars may have gone home, and the newbies may have slept late. We are not complaining because the service was perfect. And with the new deliveries yesterday, there were berries…giant blackberries and raspberries. So good with our Greek yogurts.
Once again, we tried to get Kimberly's talk on the next two ports in Australia on our TV. Her lecture on Sydney never came up, and neither did Moreton Island or Airlie Beach. Since we have never been to either one of these ports, her info would be valuable. Finally we called the front desk folks and they informed us that with the installation of the new TV, we will not be able to get anything taped such as the port talks. The new TV's are not programmed to interact with their system. They did offer to put the old one back, but why would we do that? No, we said we will deal with it and probably go to Google to get our information, which is probably what Kimberly does anyway. Or we could go directly to her lectures in the World Stage. The only thing we have concern about is the fact that every single day, we have a health warning. And today, we expected another block party where the guests meet up in the elevator lobbies to greet each other. Now that did not happen today. We wonder if it has anything to do with added sanitizing stations outside the dining venues and the no-handshaking request?
Lunch was in the Lido with our usual salads. The romaine lettuce has been different. It tends to be leathery and almost tough. Even if it is cut smaller, it is still chewy. Today the alternate was spinach or mixed greens that were turning a bit brown on the edges. The rest of the toppings were fine, especially the tomatoes which were firm, red, and ripe. The nice sandwich-maker always saves two brioche rolls without the oatmeal on the top. He knows exactly what we like and builds good sandwiches with the best of the ingredients left. And the cute ice cream girl has been saving some sugar cones for us. By now, most everyone has had their lunch, so she secretly brings two cones out from under her counter and gives us one scoop of vanilla or a chocolate softy.
Dinnertime arrived as usual, and we had some good choices. Appetizers were Caesar salads and chicken spring rolls. What a treat….the spring rolls were excellent and served piping hot. Mains were one grilled pork chop with different sides. The other entrée was sliced tenderloin over a bed of quinoa. I know that this grain is supposed to be healthy, but I find little flavor in it. Truth be told, I prefer rice. And if rice happens to be on another entrée, I will order it in place of something else. Desserts were one scoop of strawberry sorbet and one of macadamia nut ice cream. Full again, we called it a night.
There was an entertainer, Sarah Moir, a violinist extraordinaire, no less and promises to have the folks singing and dancing in the aisles.
Tomorrow should be interesting going to a new port. Actually there is no port because this stop is an island and from we learned online, there isn't too much there. We will be using tenders to get to the island. It is located very close to the city of Brisbane, and we wonder why didn't we go there?
Bill & Mary Ann
No Pictures
