Luminous Sydney

There is a great festival going on in Sydney right now called Luminous Sydney. According the website, it’s “a festival of music, ideas, light and performance.”  The most obvious and dramatic aspect of the festival is the Lighting of the Sails. Each night from 5:30 to late -  both sides of the Opera House shells (or sails as they are sometimes called) are illuminated with colorful projections of light.  It’s pretty cool.  When i run home from work each night (yeah, i’ve been reduced to a run-commuter now), i run through Circular Quay (main ferry terminal adjacent to opera house) and around the Botanical Gardens with great views of the Opera House the whole time.  It’s really fun to see a different color pattern projected each night.

This weekend we joined our friends Jen and Michael to go to one of the shows of the Festival – Reggie Watts from Seattle.  I knew nothing of Reggie Watts before sitting down for the show… and he blew me away.  He is a one-man show creatively weaving together music, spoken word, and stand up improvisation.  He uses a little electronic mixer to record his own voice in real time to form multiple layers of a song – i.e bass and percussion – and then sings/raps over the top of it.  Really creative stuff.

Here are a few pics of the Lighting of the Sails and the Reggie Watts show.  Some of the pics were taken with our new camera.  I’ve had my eye on this one since December, but no camera shop in Australia could keep it in stock long enough to buy it.  I finally tracked one down and nabbed it – Panasonic LX3 with a brilliant Leica lense.  It rocks.

Melbourne

The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne dates back to the foundation of Australia. Though historically the debate was more around the settlement of the the capital city, nowadays the argument seems to mainly come down to culture, weather, and sport. Melbourne is characterized as a city more fashion-forward, full of character, and a dominant cafe culture, hence it is often described as “more European”. Sydney on the other hand is a little more showy and boisterous – it is home to the famous Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, and the many beaches. The dominant culture is surf culture (but with big city long work hours…go figure).

Having lived in Sydney for around 7 months, we have begun to develop a good sense of this city and it’s unique character. So, we took advantage of some cheap airfare and spent a weekend getting our first taste of Melbourne. We stayed with our friends Kate and Craig, who were the best type of hosts. They seamlessly integrated us into their weekend, an active, yet relaxing way to experience a local’s weekend in Melbourne.

We arrived on Saturday in time to pick up Kate and meet Craig down in the CBD for lunch. Our first experience with the laneways! These charming little pedestrian walkways are full of little boutiques and cafes. We ducked into a local chocolate shop for dessert following a tasty lunch at Hell’s Kitchen, followed up by coffee on the river.

That evening we went out for dinner to a great restaurant called Veggie Bar in the Fitzroy, a neighborhood with an independent vibe that reminded us a lot of Chicago’s Wickerpark/Bucktown.

After breakfast the next morning we headed out to the Dandenong Ranges National Park, just 30km east of Melbourne. We spent the first half of the day on the trails (Galen and Kate took off, and Craig was sweet enough to go a bit slower with me) and finished up the afternoon grabbing lunch and poking around the little towns in the area. That evening Kate and Craig invited some friends over and we had a bbq and played a lively, men vs women, game of Taboo. I probably don’t need to tell you who won, you can probably guess.

Well, it is confirmed, we loved Melbourne. I’ll refrain to adding any more foder to the Sydney vs Melbourne debate, but it is sufice to say I will be looking for any excuse to return – ASAP.

The Pool

I admire good recreational swimmers; I mean those who go to the pool not just to swim, but to “swim laps”. They are fluid and have a way of looking powerful without looking uncomfortable. No grunting, no contorted, beat-red, sweaty, miserable looking faces. Not these folks, they look as cool as cucumbers propelling their bodies as they stretch and pull their arms rhythmically through the water, periodically pivoting their heads to replenish their lungs. It is mesmerizing to watch.

Like many neighborhoods throughout Sydney, we have a public pool less than a 10-minute walk from our place. This is an 8 lane, 50 meter, salt water, lap pool overlooking Woolloomooloo Bay. Aside from the lively kiddie section, the pool is an amazingly quite place in the middle of city. With the Botanical Gardens to one side, harbor on the other, and open air above, there isn’t even the sound of traffic to contend with.

This pool also houses a small yoga studio where the classes are good, but the view is inspiring. There is also a small outdoor café that serves good brunch and a decent cappuccino (It’s no Toby’s… but it’s not bad). But again, it is the fantastic location that makes it such a desirable to place to have a post swim juice or coffee and browse the paper on a Sunday morning.

So although we mostly hang in the outer lanes (aka where the grannies and folks with broken arms inch along) our neighborhood pool inspires us to keep coming back and join in the fun of swimming laps.

Movie with a View

Last night Galen, Buzz, and I went to the The Open Air Cinema. Every summer we have all enjoyed our respective home cities’ summer outdoor movies…each with a slightly different variation on the theme… San Francisco has “Film Night in the Park”, Chicago’s “Movies in the Park,” Boulder’s “Outdoor Cinema.” We all agree it is a great way to spend a summer evening, pack a picnic, share some wine, and eek out some play time in the last of the sunlight.  All that and then you still have a movie to watch.

This particular outdoor cinema is sort of on another level. Never mind the cost, and the difficulty obtaining tickets (two months of screenings sold out within a couple of hours), it is worth it. The event is held in The Royal Botanic Gardens, and the screen is IN the harbor. Yes, the big screen stands in the water with the Sydney skyline, Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge as a backdrop. Hey, if the movie is getting dull you just watch the fruit bats flying around or admire the view. It is hard to beat.

We knew we wanted to do this with Galen’s dad, so we made our movie choice based on his time with us, and were then pretty much locked into seeing The Day the Earth Stood Still. Our expectation were not high (Keanu Reeves…world coming to an end…), but it turned out to be a great choice for the venue (sci-fi remake of the 1951 classic).

Not to forget….the picnic. It was tasty: sweet potato salad, fresh zebra tomatoes with olive oil and basil, fresh fruit, and a Rose collected on our trip to New Zealand. Lindt was a sponsor, so we indulged in a couple of free Lindor truffles for dessert. Yum.

Monet: My Impression

There are times in life when you feel obligated to “better yourself” through exposure to cultural or artistic mediums. Yesterday I ventured to the Art Gallery of NSW for Monet & The Impressionists with the intention to satisfy that obligation, and came out pleasantly surprised at the authentic satisfaction with the whole experience.

I took advantage of a free guided tour of the the exhibit, and I believe that made all the difference. The no nonsense tour guide was key. She led the way, showed us the goods, banged us over the head with some interesting notes, and some of the artists’ intentions, and then let us be. Plus she pronounced the French words in that perfect way so that she commanded respect, but not so over-the-top that you wanted to give her a cute smile and remind her that she was, in fact, an Australian. Despite the obligatory tour behavior… hushed shuffling, some craning of necks,  and silent jockeying for the best vantage point, I found it the perfect way to get my cultural fix.

Fun tidbits from the exhibit…

It was not the subject, or landscape the artists were attempting to capture, but the sensation, hence they were given the name “impressionists.”

Japanese art, mostly woodblock prints, had a great influence on Monet’s style.

30 is not the new 20

I turned 30 this past Monday. Although a 30th birthday is arguably the first birthday to actually dread, I don’t relate. I am feeling more that 30 feels just right, and like this is the start of a very exciting and promising decade ahead…as someone recently reflected to me. That may have a lot to do with whom I celebrated with.

Visiting Hunter Valley for the weekend with Galen was a perfect. Tasting wine in the Australian countryside….I can’t think of many things I would rather be doing. On our way back to Sydney we stopped for one more mini-exploration, and as we tramped over the oddly picturesque sand dunes of Nelson Bay, Galen mentioned that we had something to get back to in Sydney…come to find out, we had tickets to the Australian Ballet’s performance of “Interplay” at the Sydney Opera House. Ah! Loved it.

30 is not the new 20, it’s way better.

Wisdom

Galen and I met up last Thursday evening at the world premier launch of the exhibition “Wisdom” , a book, film and exhibition by the American photographer Andrew Zuckerman. Zuckerman traveled the world, filming, photographing and interviewing 50 men and women over the age of 65, hand selected by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. These individuals were chosen as people who “had made a contribution to culture…embodied the idea of extreme curiosity and extreme rigor to the work they have done, and people who have been able to touch others.” The lineup included plenty of the usual suspects such as Nelson Mandela, Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Buzz Aldrin, Jane Goodall…but the most striking insight came from the seemingly less likely set (who would have thought Nick Nolte?) and those artists, writers, or cultural figures we did not recognize at first glance. I would say this exhibition was not lost on us, 4 days later we are still googling a few of the showcased individuals and their contributions to our world…and, we are, the wiser for it.