Great weekend so far...

As I mentioned in my last post, I headed out to a fun dinner in the city with a group from work on Friday night. We tried to get 'a booking' at a Vietnamese restaurant, but they were booked for 6 weeks straight. I definitely want to go there sometime, since it must be very popular if it is booked that far in advance! We ended up going to a Japanese restaurant instead...and it was amazing!!! The inside of the restaurant was very hip and cool. Had an awesome bar area and loud club music. We ended up sitting outside on the street and had a great time out there! I ended up going all out with 2 of the other people there and we got what was called the Tasting Menu. It was rather expensive, but soooo worth it...and I think the other 3 that didn't get it were rather jealous! It was basically like a japanese version of small plates or tapas...it was little bites or tastes of like 9 or 10 of the best dishes on the menu. I took pictures of a few of the dishes that came out, but was having too much fun to care about taking too many pictures! Here were a few of my favorites!

Seared beef with pickled onions (and other stuff)

Fried tofu with avocado stuff on it

Scallops...my favorite!

Like I mentioned, we got lots of other dishes and they were all just fabulous.We did get some sushi rolls and nigiri (real sushi, just the raw fish and some rice, for those of you who don't much about sushi) and I loved the nigiri this time! I think I had tried it many years ago with my sister and Matt and wasn't a fan back then. I am hooked now though! And then to top off this tasting menu, we got this!

Yep, a whole big tray of some of their desserts! We shared this with the rest of the group and overall, we had such a fun night!

This morning I slept in a bit (had to get rid of the wine headache I had!), so I got a little slower start to the day. I made a trip to the grocery store and came back to the apartment to get ready for the afternoon. I set off across the bridge and this was my destination:

Yep, I was headed to the Opera House! (Side note: in between the Bridge and Opera House is the main ferry terminal, called Circular Quay. Notice how busy it is right there with all the ferries going in and out...so fun to watch!) I had been told that there is a really great 1 hour guided tour of the Opera House for a pretty good price, so I wanted to go check that out. The walk over the bridge and to the Opera House was about 40 minutes or a little longer. When I got to the desk to purchase the tour, the worker said...good news, we do still have a tour today...bad news, the next one starts in 55 minutes. Ha, I had just missed one by a few minutes! No worries though...there was so much to see and do, so I just wandered around and looked at all of the shops, restaurants, live perfomers, etc that were all around. The Opera Bar was an amazing outdoor bar and restaurant area that had live music...it was hopping on this beautiful, sunny day! I stopped somewhere along the way and got a water and some gelato and then headed back to the tour meeting point. Here is a pic right by where I got my gelato and hung out for a few minutes:

Whoever told me about this was right...this tour was sooo worth it!! Our tour guide was fabulous, it was fun to experience it with a group of people and we got to see and learn about everything! We got to see inside one of several smaller theaters that they have and then we got to see inside both of the big, main theaters...WOW! It seriously was quite breathtaking and made me a tear up a tiny bit! It was so interesting to hear some of the history behind this world famous landmark and to see it all up close and personal. And of course, it really made me want to go see a ballet or even an opera there too! The sun was starting to set when our tour finished, so it was starting to get somewhat close to show-time for some of the evening performances. It was fun to see people arriving in fancy dresses and tuxes! I had someone take one more picture after the tour and before I started my trek back to my side of the harbour:

All in all, I got about 4 hours of walking and sight-seeing in this afternoon, so my legs and feet are worn out tonight.

While I do miss you all and wish you were here to experience this with me, I do, once again, feel very fortunate to have this amazing opportunity to live in Australia for 6 months!