The Sydney Opera House

After a busy morning of work, I was headed back to my home in Newport then a quick shower and out the door with Jan. After two buses, we arrived in Manly, where we caught the ferry over to Circular Quay in Sydney. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side so we were unable to see the full beauty of our water-way journey. Once on land at Circular Quay, we were off and running so as not to miss our 1 30pm Opera House Tour appointment. Just on time we joined the group in wearing some cheesy looking headphones and listened in to our tour guide. Following her around the first level of the Opera House we were shown the versatile drauma theatre, then led to the foyer to watch a quick video on the background politics and architecture of the Opera House. She informed us on all the architectural drauma that occurred through the building that was originally supposed to take seven years and cost three million, when in reality it took sixteen years and cost over 100 million dollars all together. Going through into the upper theaters, we looked out over the amazing Sydney Harbour. Going through the main concert room and beyond, it was amazing to see all the architecture and design.
With the changing of governments, the main architect involved in the building left when it was near done, never to return to Australia; but his son was later brought out in the nineties to oversee some maintenance and further upgrading. With many changes coming to Australia in the seventies, there were a number of other challenges that occurred in the process of carrying out the Opera house, and it is amazing that it was even completed so successfully in the end. The original drawing plans of the place were mere sketches of an idea that one of the judges managed to see an amazing artful design out of- the building of what the Opera House now looks like. Each section of the curvature was made on sight as they built the opera house, and brought it's unbelievable structure to life. Built from the outside in, the Opera House really is a "building within a building" and it is clearly seen as you wander through the different rooms and see the ceilings hang below one another. Ergonomically designed seats make the Opera House a comfortable experience in every theatre room. The final banquet type room we looked at was named after the original Architect, Jørn Utzon. The Utzon room contains an amazing tapestry on the near wall, and overlooks the magnificent view of the Sydney Harbour with a wall of windows only. To conclude our tour we learned that though the Opera House hosts many other performers and performances other than Opera's, that the man who fought to have the Opera house erected wanted exactly that, and "Opera house", and so the name stuck instead of being Sydney Houe of Performing Arts or other such a name.
After the hour long tour, Jan and I sat down for an excellent sushi lunch at one of the Opera Bar cafe's. There we were delighted with our three tiered sushi platter, and while we fought off the seagulls for it, we managed to eat it all and save some room for gelato for dessert. After lunch we took a stroll up Pitt street where I had to pick up a North Face Jacket, then we were back down to the Opera Bar to meet a few of Jan's friends for drinks and later dinner then a Comedy show at the Opera House. After a few hours of drinking and chatting, it was time for our nine o'clock Comedy show at the Opera House.
Celebrity Autobiography was the name of the Comedy, and it was exactly what it sounds. We watched about nine Aussie Celebrities read excerpts from a number of American, and a few Australian, famous autobiographies. The bios were off in seperate categories like "Sport", or "Sex and Religion" and were absolutely hilarious- hence it being a comedy I guess. We came out of the theatre tired, but we had a number of laughs and really come out thinking "Did those celebrities really say that?". It was a successful night as we headed back to Newport late and crawled into our beds immediately.