Sydney, Australia

We woke up at 5:30 AM to watch the sail into Sydney. We watched on the bridge camera until we saw that the ship was approaching Sydney. We made our way to the front of the ship. We watched as we sailed passed the Sydney Opera House and into Circular Quay. Mr. Crib, a Viking lecturer, provided commentary on the history of Sydney while also pointing and describing various points of interest. We thoroughly enjoyed sailing into Sydney. Although the last time we sailed in, it was very early in the morning before the sun was up so we were treated to the Sydney skyline all lit up

We had breakfast on the Aquavit Terrace which had a fantastic view of the Sydney Bridge and Opera House.

We returned to our stateroom, I answered some emails and Bob grabbed a quick nap. At 10 AM, we heading out on our own. Since we are fortunate to be in Sydney over the weekend, we knew that the street market would be open.

The weather was beautiful, if not a tad hot, as we strolled through the market in the Rocks neighborhood of Sydney. The market is amazing. The city pulls out all the stops to make it an enjoyable experience. They provide mats and pillows for people to sit on an expanse of green lawn in the shade provided by the Sydney Bridge. There are also games for children and picnic tables.

We made several purchases. I am beginning to get concerned about how we are going to manage to pack everything and get it home. I think that we will be forced to add duffle bag to our shopping list.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped at the Fortune of War pub. It claims to be Sydney's oldest pub having been established in 1823. We enjoyed a fabulous cider before continuing our walk to the ship.

We had lunch on the ship. Since the temperature has gotten quite warm, we chose to eat inside the World Cafe in the port side so we could enjoy the view of the Opera House.

The afternoon found us relaxing in the stateroom. I worked on downloading photos to the laptop.

I also had a lengthy phone call with my mother. It was so nice to catch up on what all is going on with my family.

We headed up to dinner early as we wanted to have an outside table with views of the Opera House and Bridge. Dale and Jenni joined us for dinner.

We had an early evening.Read more