feldmanlarry

October 20-22, 2017 — Australian Eastern Daylight Time (15 hours ahead of EDT). Sydney is in southeastern Australia (see #1 on the map).

I wasn’t sure if we should have taken this trip but it feels great to actually be in Australia. Last night, we went to the Sydney Opera House to hear Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #3. This was an amazing way to start our vacation. The opera house is the most famous building in Australia and that concerto is one of Margaret’s most favorite pieces. I’ll show pictures and say more further down.

But first we had to get there, especially after all the issues about my injury from the previous entry. I was hesitant to ask for a wheel chair but was glad to have it. I was treated as a handicapped person with all the perks included. It really helped since there would have been a lot of walking through the four airports.

I used to feel that having an identity crisis is something that teenagers have and never again after that. I can identify a couple of times I have had major or minor identity crises in my life after being a teenager. Certainly, one was when I left working in a can factory in Montreal to start my math teaching career in Buffalo. Maybe 2-3 others happened before retiring, which of course, causes an identity crisis. No longer is the job and title of math professor applicable.

I would call what has happened to me in the past month a minor identity crisis. Am I a handicapped person, at least until this fracture heals in 6 months or so (supposedly)? Should I hide that I’m in pain or assert my need for a cane and wheel chair? My resolution seems to be to put aside the optics of looking old and go with what makes my and Margaret’s lives easier.

In Pittsburgh, they pushed us to the front of the TSA line and we got through in about 5 minutes. In San Francisco, we only had 65 minutes between our arrival from Chicago to the flight to Sydney. It was well over a mile between the gates and it really helped to have someone pushing me in a wheel chair. In Sydney, we were through immigration in just a few minutes.

The lie-flat bed made the 15-hour flight from SF to Sydney more than bearable. In some ways, it was better to be there for so long, since there was enough time between the dinner and the breakfast to really sleep. Having an excellent dinner at midnight (3 AM Eastern time), didn’t work too well though.

A guide and driver met us at the airport and took us on a two-hour tour of Sydney. Sydney had been having a drought and chose the day we arrived to make up for it. There were some hearty surfers and swimmers at the famous Bondi beach but we could only imagine what it would be like on a nice summer day in a couple of months. We commiserated with the German guide about the US idiot President while learning about coffee in Australia. They don’t have filtered coffee, only espresso, cappuccino, etc. The closest we can get to the coffee we get in the US is what they call Long Black, which is espresso mixed with hot water and tastes similar to strong coffee back home.

The tour took us to see the outside of the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), which we returned to later. Australia has its own identity crisis between its British roots, its massive immigrant population, and the aboriginal people. The QVB is clearly from the British roots. My favorite part were the clocks, one of which had a ship sailing on the bottom of it and separate dials for the month, date, hour, and seconds.

My plan for dealing with the 15 hour time change was simple – sleep a normal night’s sleep on the plane and when we arrived in Sydney at 8 AM, just start a normal day. However, what I failed to realize was that the concert we went to at the Sydney Opera House at 8 PM was like starting a concert at 5 AM until 8 AM. I’m a late night person but not that late.

Regardless of the sleep problem, the concert was wonderful. The composer of a wild piece based on wildfires that killed over 100 people in 2012 was the conductor. The piece had jarring sharp sounds, using a very full orchestra including musicians at 3 locations in the audience. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #3 was rarely played from when it was written in 1909 until 1930 because it is ridiculously difficult for the pianist. Vladimir Horowitz was the person who brought it back. It requires almost acrobatic skills and even though it’s music from my least favorite era of classical music, I really enjoyed it. As much as seeing this concert was the thrill of being inside this building, which is easily the most famous one in Australia.

We had taken Ubers all over town from Asian drivers and  were able to get one to return to the hotel around 11 PM for a long needed sleep. I felt almost back to normal in the morning. The next day we took a thirty minute ferry to Manly, which went right by the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, which Margaret had run across earlier that morning.

We had a quirky hotel, called the Harbor Rocks (the name of the district), just a 5 minute walk (even at my slow pace) from the ferries.  We started each day on the Nurse’s Walk, which is named for the hospitals that were there centuries ago with the convict nurses.

We’re working hard to make sure we don’t get hit by a car while walking with driving on the opposite side. These signs helped to remind us to look the opposite way.

This was an excellent start to our trip. Sydney has a wonderful vibe to it. It has people from all over the world; there are many runners, bikers, etc; and the beauty of the harbors is stunning. I’m dealing with using a cane at times and not being able to do everything I’d like to do. I’m glad we didn’t cancel the trip.