Sydney

I arrived in Sydney this morning (Monday) around 8am. I met Jamie at our hotel. I took a shower, then we headed out to get breakfast. After breakfast we walked along "The Rocks" (the waterfront), which gave us some historical perspectives and good views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From here, we started a (very long) walking tour of the city's water features that ended up giving us a really good overview of central Sydney.

The sailor's home on the harbour. Apparently this was built to provide reasonable accommodations for sailors on shore so they wouldn't find themselves in so much (criminal) trouble.

I feel like this building is famous. So I took a picture. 

The bridge 

The underside of the bridge. 

This fountain (the first on our walk) commemorated the city's first public water source. 

Apparently, the harbour has been expanded over the years. There are some markers in the ground that show where the original shoreline was.

The walk took us into the botanical gardens. Which were beautiful. But it was HOT. 

Looking back towards Sydney Harbour 

The Sydney skyline from the botanical gardens. 

Ducking back into the botanical gardens for a look at one more fountain... 

This is a fountain in the grounds of the Sydney Hospital dedicated to a famous actor. It's supposedly "classic Australian style".

This boar just outside the hospital is a replica of the one in Florence. Jamie rubbed his nose for good luck.

I forget the actual name of this fountain. It's apparently colloquially referred to "The Urinal" because some people faked peeing in it on the cover of a local magazine. Apparently, if I understood correctly, the editors of that magazine were charged, convicted, and perhaps imprisoned briefly. Oops. 

As we entered Hyde park, this bird was frolicking in the fountain...

This bird was playing in a fountain further into the park; the mosaics on the fountain are supposed to evoke Aboriginal art. 

We took a break in the shade.

This guy took a break in the fountain. 

At the other end of the park was this fountain featuring Apollo 

We ended up near the cathedral, so we wandered around it a bit, too. 

Cause, obviously.