All Along George

Over the course of my day today I made my way from the foot of George Street, where it becomes Broadway, near Central Station to the end of the street in the Rocks, where it turns at the Harbour and dives under the Harbour Bridge. The three kilometres was not in one foul swoop, rather I made my usual walk to Town Hall this morning after class, getting me halfway up the street into the heart of the CBD.

This evening, however, instead of turning to walk back out of the city, I made a left and walked through the crowds of office workers emptying the towers of the city on my way toward Circular Quay.  The occasion? Birthday dinner for Tiffany at Pancakes on the Rocks (where I had gone with Hannah and Joe back in March). I met Abs and Tiffany there about 5:45 and Max showed up a bit later.  Dinner was enjoyable, I think I made a better choice this time around - Hot 'n' Troppo (Aussie for Tropical) - buttermilk pancakes with grilled banana, walnuts, cream, chocolate ice cream, and homemade chocolate sauce. There was nothing left on the plate after I was finished with it.

Hot 'n' Troppo before I dug in.

After dinner Max suggested we wander over to the Argyle for a drink as it is Tiffany's 21st (not that that is a big deal here, but being Americans it was worth acknowledging).  The name sounded familiar, and when we were walking toward it I realized I had wandering through the courtyard on my walk to North Sydney a few months back.  Again, on Max's recommendation, our first stop at the Argyle was the bathroom.  It was by far the coolest bathroom I have ever been in...

The unisex bathroom in the Argyle - a large room with pod-like urinals and a glowing sink filled from pipes in the ceiling.

I can't help but think that the bathroom also provided a distraction while Max got up to no good ordering a round of birthday shooters (as they call shots in Australia) for us.  All evening he had been talking about a "chocolate cake" shot, but when we came out it looked like he had gotten us tequila.  We were not enthused, but he kept insisting that they were chocolate cake - I have to admit I did not believe him even as we lifted the glasses to toast Tiffany.  Well, I have to apologize, because they were, in fact, chocolate cake flavoured, made from hazelnut liqueur and vanil vodka with the rim coated with sugar and followed immediately by a lemon.  While there is no chocolate in the mix, it tastes exactly like the end of a piece of chocolate cake.  Hats off to you, Max.

From the Argyle we made our way down to Circular Quay, and went around the ferry wharves to the Opera House.  With all of my wandering around the area I had not actually gone out to the penisula on which the Opera House sits.  It was very cool to wander around and look at it up close - I look forward to showing my visitors around in the daylight over there!

The Opera House from across Circular Quay.

Harbour Bridge from the Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House.

After the Opera House we wandered back to Circular Quay where Abs and I caught the bus home.  I am doing a bit of work, the last bit of cleaning, and then getting ready for bed - according to Virgin Australia the plane should be landing in a little over seven hours, and I need to leave in a little over eight hours to meet them at the train station.