Sydney Opera House and back on US soil

Today was quiet all day long but at about 6:00 PM I went down to the concierge desk to see one last time if either Danielle or the Dutch guys had e-mailed me. At that time I am frustrated because no one exchanged e-mails thinking Danielle would mail them to everyone the very next day. I guess she will eventually, but when you are about to leave the country and are planning on meeting up with people timing is an issue. If you plan on meeting up someone my recommendation is get their e-mail, don't rely on them to contact you or anyone else to send it to you for that matter. So I went down to make this last attempt and the concierge feeling sorry for me offered me two tickets to the Opera. Now I know most of you are probably making the connection that I did not make... I was just thinking well make the best out of a situation (take the free tickets). Personally I would rather see old friends but you might as well take free $185.00 tickets. So I ran upstairs to tell Irene about my good fortune and we quickly put on all black and hopped in a cab. It is not until we round the corner and I see the Opera House lit up at night that it dawns on me. I am about to go see an Opera at THE Sydney Opera House. We then grab a glass of sparkling white and head in to the theatre. Our seats were fifth row center. You can imagine the orchestra was sitting in our laps... No not really they were under the stage. It was amazing you could hear the singers take each breath. After that we went to Woollamooloo to the W hotel for a cocktail and then to the roof of the horizon where we were staying. The concierge took us up there it was restricted and you have to have a key. The horizon is not the tallest building but sits at the highest point because it is on a hill in Darlinghurst, so technically we were at the top of the world. You could see the whole city sparkle (dust in the air). I am a believer in fate and being in the right place at the right time. I guess you could say this was one of those situations, I can't believe my good fortune. I then went to bed early so that we could head to Cafe Coluzzi one last time before we left. It is odd how things happen. The next morning a nice man that works all over the world invited us to dinner and yet another concierge offered us a private climb of the Sydney Harbor Bridge if I would stay another week. I decided to go on home. Sometimes you just have to honor your commitments and return as you had planned.

I made it to the airport with time to spare. I had a few more presents to pick out and I figured the airport would be as good a place as any to buy them. (I left a bag of gifts in the restroom at Mt. Lofty outside of Adelaide). Then as we boarded and I climbed the stairs to the second level of the plane I sat back in my chair and began to flip through the inflight entertainment book. Spanglish, the Door in the floor, Ladies in Lilac, Sideways, Ray, etc, etc...

14 hours later and a bit tired and all I really wanted to stay on the plane and fly right back to Australia. The people in Australia were part of what makes it a wonderful place and landing in LA reminded me why. For those of you who are not familiar with the term Ugly Americans let me familiarize you with the term. (The tendency of American tourists visiting foreign countries to completely insult the culture of those countries, almost always accidentally. Many behaviors practiced by "ugly Americans" are simply innocent mistakes involving actions that are perfectly acceptable in America, but are shunned in foreign countries. Some universal symptoms of an ugly American is excessive amounts of luggage, overly casual clothes, etc. However, others vary from country to country.) If you have never seen one all you need to do is head to LA and visit their airport, they are all about to leave for their next destination. The lines were long and the people pushed their way along, people cut in lines, ducked under ropes and complained. Once again I was thankful for my iPod. As I put it on, the last of the unfamiliar noises faded away I began to smile thinking about my trip. Before I knew it I was in the American Airlines Lounge drinking a mimosa, I'm home.

In Australia instead of saying thanks they say cheers and instead of saying your welcome or no problem they say no worries. I like that.