Inescapable New Orleans

Mom should be happy to hear that I spent much of the morning doing homework.  Between compiling and consolidating information for the architecture paper and selecting a topic and writing for my history paper I made a large dent in my work for the weekend.  I also took a walk over to the architecture school to collect my pinned-up paper from yesterday, but it was missing from the wall, along with some others.  I can only assume that means something - hopefully good...

At noon Tiffany came over and we made a slight adjustment to our New Zealand itinerary before striking out for lunch with Abs and his visitor, Emily, at Guzman Y Gomez - a fantastic Mexican restaurant on King Street.  While Abs went back to class for the rest of the afternoon Tiffany and I took Emily on an extensive tour of Sydney.  We started off at Paddy's Market where Tiffany tends to find lots of ridiculous things at the various stalls:

Some Americana at Paddy's Market.

From Paddy's we made our way toward Darling Harbour, stopping at a really incredible play area for small and large children alike.  It has an extensive water area as well as large climbing nets and things that would never survive the litigious society in America.  We played around for a bit and decided we had to come back again soon!

Playing in the water near Darling Harbour.

After wandering around Darling Harbour we made our way up to Town Hall. Walking through the Town Hall plaza a small brass band was playing 'St. James Infirmary' - a New Orleans staple.  First Iko Iko, then Trombone Shorty, and now a Louis Armstrong go-to - who knew the New Orleans cultural influence was so far reaching?  We explored the Queen Victoria Building and then took a trip down George Street back toward Central.  At some point during all of that we wandered through Chinatown and got Emperor's Puffs - delicious cream doughnuts I had on my first night in Sydney.

At Central we went to a discount book shop and explored a bit before parting ways.  Tiffany went off to take the train to meet some friends and Emily and I headed back to the house.  After this update I will be off for dinner and good times with some folks (the group I made New Orleans dinner two weeks ago).  Tomorrow will be for some work, laundry, and a trip up to Manly - this should be a good weekend!