Sydney: Opera House Tour (Thumbs Down)

Our preferred backstage tour for the Sydney Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage Site — recognized as “a masterpiece of human creativity” — had been sold out for quite sometime. Same with tickets for Swan Lake, the only performance we were interested in seeing. So, after checking one more time for cancelations earlier this week, we gave in and booked the 1-hour general tour.

After finishing up at the Pylon Museum and Lookout , we strolled towards the Opera House. We still had time before our 2:45p tour, so we checked out some restaurants to get a bite for lunch. We settled on the East Chinese Restaurant, opting to sit inside as not only was it smoky outside, it was also humid … which made it quite uncomfortable on an already hot day.

Arriving at the tour meeting point, we “cloaked” Mui’s daypack as it was deemed bigger than a piece of A3 paper. We then met up with the tour guide, who checked our tickets and issued headsets. All good so far.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that the tour was was good. We didn’t see much that was truly interesting … and the commentary didn’t give us any insight that we couldn’t have gleaned for ourselves from the internet. Certainly, the tour wasn’t worth the money. It falls into the “loss” category for today.

We started out with a short multimedia presentation that didn’t provide any information … just a sped up collection of photos and imagery set to loud music. Then we went into a room that was initially meant to be storage for the Main Stage above it … but was converted into a small stage for plays. Nothing really interesting there.

Our route then took us up a bunch of stairs to the red-carpeted foyer for the Joan Sutherland Theater … used for opera and ballet performances. We did go into the theater itself … after watching a brief video about the building’s history in the lobby. No photos inside the theater, however … no idea why.

Next, we went out to the open space between the two sides of the Opera House … this was sort of interesting as we got a different perspective of the “sails.” And then it was over. No, we did not get to go into the Main Stage … there was a matinee performance. True, the Opera House is an operating facility and there is always something going on somewhere. Disappointing nonetheless.

We drowned our disappointment with a chocolate orange fondant cake at Guylian, a café associated with the famous Belgian chocolatier.Read more