Is that Astoria or Australia?

Did any of my readers expect me to be in Queens? Like ever?

Here is a view of the famous Sydney Harbour bridge from the ferry.

Some of you might not realize that the design was influenced by the not quite as famous Hell Gate bridge in Queens.

We took the ferry to Manly Beach for dinner at a supposedly good Italian restaurant.  After a long trip, I really start to crave a dish of pasta.  I was so looking forward to Italian food. Sadly, this restaurant was good but the pasta dishes all had Australian ingredients.  I had to beg them to just bring me some spaghetti with tomato sauce. At least there was no crocodile.

Manly Beach is this crazy sliver of land at the entrance to the Sydney Harbour. It is supposed to be where all the surfing happens but the waves are not very big.

Tomorrow is supposed to be good beach weather. I will go to Bondi beach if my meetings end at a decent hour.  

Sydney Harbour - Yes. Crocodile - No.

We walked from our hotel over to an area known as the Rocks.  This is where the fancy hotels and boutique shops are.

We ate pizza with crocodile and emu on it.  Emu was ok but I do not like crocodile. It tastes like gummy, salty fish.

We then walked across the famous Sydney Harbour bridge.  We did not walk across the top of the bridge but stayed on the pedestrian walkway.

Obligatory picture of the Opera House from the bridge

Even at night, the harbour is stunning.  However, I have to admit that as New Yorkers we were really not that impressed with the bridge.  It's impressive but it's no Brooklyn Bridge.

I am looking forward to seeing the harbour from the ferry tomorrow on our way to Manly beach.

Koalas

Another busy day of meetings.

We finished early enough to visit the Darling Harbour Zoo where they have Koalas. A trip to Australia is not complete without seeing a Koala in person.  It turns out they sleep a lot so don't expect any action shots.

The zoo also has lots of snakes... each more poisonous than the last.

And, we can't forget the kangaroos

We also met up with my new friends from the airport and tried the local rum, Bundaberg. I'll definitely be bringing a bottle of that home.  

Vegemite

Picture from the Google microkitchen

They actually eat Vegemite here. I thought it was just a joke. It is horrible stuff.  It is saltier than salt itself.

The food at the Sydney office is not very good.  Surprising for a Google office.

Not much else to report today. We had partner meetings all day and then went to Meat & Wine Co for dinner.  I ate some kangaroo.  It tastes like beef.

The ice cream cake from Messina was the highlight by far.  I'll probably have a dream about that cake it was so good. 

Sydney First Impressions

It's warm.  Hot is more accurate. I'm not complaining but it is definitely hot.

Sydney is very clean and the people are friendly. It is not a very exotic city.  There is a lot of activity on the water and a lot of outdoor spaces.  It's a nice walking city.

Given that I'm exhausted and I have no luggage, I stayed in Darling Harbour today.  Darling Harbour has a bit of a touristy Times Square feel to it.  There's a Hard Rock Cafe and a Madame Tussaud's.  Do I need to say anything more?

I went shopping.  The high end shopping district has all the same designers as any large city... Coach, Versace, etc. I went into Myer's to buy some t-shirts and underwear.  Myer's is a Macy's quality department store.  No surprise but many places sell Uggs.

Food is as expected. Lots of pubs. I went to Pie Face which would have been much more exciting if one had not recently opened on 23rd Street.

Top of the Sydney bridge as seen from the Google office

My meetings start tomorrow morning at 8 am. I am hoping to go to the beach one of these evenings. Stay tuned for more excitement from Down Under.

Qantas. Almost perfect.

After a 13 hour flight, I have arrived in Sydney.  My bag, well,.... that's still at LAX.  

Here's what happened --   Flight was delayed at SFO. There was a representative from Qantas waiting for us when we got off the plane and she escorted us right onto a bus and onto our connecting flight and we took off. However, there was not time to get our bags.  Qantas gave me a $100 prepaid card to buy stuff for the evening. The bag will be on tonight's flight and delivered to my hotel tomorrow.  Oh well. Not the end of the world. I met 2 nice people at the Admiral's Club who live here in Sydney. We are going to get drinks this week.

I am going to get some food and do some shopping and hopefully make it to the beach today.

Obligatory picture from my hotel room

"You don't have a ticket"

Those are probably the worst words that a traveler can hear.

At this rate, it will be amazing if I make it to Sydney at all.

Due to the weather at home, I called American tuesday morning and asked if they could fly me out to SF on tuesday instead of wednesday.  No problem, they responded. We won't even charge you a fee.

Unbeknownst to me, the nice women on the phone canceled my SFO -> LAX -> Sydney ticket.  After what seemed like an eternity waiting, the woman at the counter was able to fix the problem. Besides the wait, the most annoying thing is the women blaming it on me.  Really? How exactly was this my fault?

I'm now waiting for my delayed flight to LAX. Let's hope I make the connection. The woman at the Admiral's Club assured me that I have plenty of time. I'll be doing the OJ Simpson run through the airport for sure.

How was Mountain View you might be wondering. It rained. I thought they were having a drought here. It rained all 3 days.  I should not complain too much though. Raining and 50 beats snowing and 20 any day of the week.

The only good part of the trip is that Hertz upgraded me to a Corvette. Ford Focus to Corvette. Nice.