The Opera House

Activity level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Modes of transportation: 🚗👟🛫🚊

We grabbed our free breakfast at the hostel (a consolation prize for having to move rooms) and hopped in an Uber for the airport. Sarah woke up with “field trip energy” because we booked a tour of the Sydney Opera House as well as a classical concert that night.

We made our flight with time to spare (though, we pushed it a little). It was a little strange though: they never actually checked our IDs.

Once in Sydney, we took the train and tram to Chinatown, where we had our hotel.

We dropped off our bags and went for a burger, since we knew it would be the last time we had a chance for a month or two. Sarah was skeptical that Eric had found a good place, since it didn’t look great from the surroundings (we were in a mall), but changed her mind when the food came. It was a great burger, with thick bacon and a truffle aioli.

After, we put on our nice clothes and headed out on the tram to the Opera House. We were running a little late, and almost missed the start of the tour (and Sarah looked great). But they ended up holding for us for a minute as we ran to catch up.

Our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly, and led us through the architecture and controversies surrounding the construction. It took 16 years to build the structure, spanning multiple administration changes and changing political landscapes. The original architect, Jorn Utzen, a Danishman, was even refused payment unfairly by the government and fired half way through the project. When they started construction, they weren’t even sure how to build the now-famous sails until Utzen had a breakthrough. Overall, construction went 10 times over budget, costing an estimated 2 billion dollars in todays money.

Luckily, Utzen was eventually paid, though he was too old by the time the government apologized and never actually saw his creation in person.

So all this happened, and we talked a lot about Utzen on this tour. At the end, our tour guide said that Jorn Utzen’s son was in town to give a talk on the building of the Opera House for the 50th anniversary that day. And it turned out that Utzen’s son and grandson were actually on the tour with us (which was only about 20 people). Crazy!

After the tour, on recommendation from the guide, we went to the box office for some last-minute tickets. They had some cheap standing room tickets left for Miss Saigon the next day, so we bought them.

After that, we walked around the grounds outside, enjoying the spectacular harbor views and taking photos before security kicked us out, but we weren’t sure why at the time. We went for a quick drink at the Opera Bar and then went over to our early reservations at a nearby French restaurant, Restaurant Hubert, which Sarah had found.

Neither Sarah nor Eric realized just how nice the restaurant was before stepping inside. The entryway felt like the entrance to a Disneyland ride, with descending steps into a dark basement with glass cases of aperitifs and French posters along the walls. Eric was getting more and more nervous about the prices as we went down, especially since Sarah said she hadn’t looked at them before booking.

Luckily, there were some delicious options that weren’t too expensive. Sarah ordered a dry sauvignon blanc to go with our appetizer escargot, and Eric got an absinthe frappe. The waiter suggested the fish of the day, which we still can’t identify, but it was a light and flaky butterflied filet. We also ordered a sirloin to split with a side of salad and “pommes Anna”. The food was incredible, partly due to the perfect cooking, and partly due to the sheer butter involved.

Our waiter was excellent, and we talked about New Orleans (because there was a jazz band playing). They had visited on their honeymoon, and crazily enough, despite being half way around the world, we ended up talking about Snake and Jakes—a beloved, but very dark Christmas themed dive bar in NOLA. They also loved the videos of our wedding and second line, which Sarah couldn’t help but show them.

Somehow, we finished all the food and had to literally run out of the restaurant, extremely full, down the hill to the Sydney Opera House to catch our concert before the doors closed.

We had booked last minute the day before, and found a great deal on literally second row tickets in the concert hall to a medley of Mozart, Bach, and Mendelson. The famous violinist Joshua Bell was leading the show with an orchestra from London. The show was spectacular, with Joshua Bell putting on an extremely animated show on his Stradivarius and playing with perfect precision and emotion.

We also both really enjoyed the sound engineering of the hall—specifically, the wood construction and design. Behind the stage and along the walls, there were laser cut ridges in the shape of sound waves that bounced and reflected music to ensure an even sound mixing in every seat. The design and simulation involved amazed us both, and added a layer of intrigue to the amazing performance.

After the long day, we were pretty spent and went back to our hotel to crash. This was definitely Sarah’s favorite day so far, but we aren’t done with the Sydney Opera House just yet.