28 Dec: Sydney (NSW).

Sometimes you have days that go sort of according to plan, like yesterday's fun, and then sometimes you don't. The 28th was one of those days. Fortunately I am sitting here typing away so obviously nothing too horrible happened.

I knew +Marc and I were going to Crossfit and I made arrangements with the closest one to our hotel, which was still quite a ways away, to come in and WOD at noon. In the "general vicinity" was the University of Sydney, which had an exhibit showcasing the Colosseum (yes, the one in Rome) in Legos. I thought it would be cool and different to see. 

After getting a bit lost getting there and then a complete lack of signage, we get to the museum when it said it would be open. I specifically double-checked to see if any special hours were in place for the holiday week. Well, no one showed up to the museum to unlock the doors. So that didn't work out.

We ventured on to Crossfit Ignite Sydney and since they had "open gym" as opposed to classes, getting there early worked out. Hmmm.... maybe the day was turning around for the better. The WOD had lots of running (about 2 miles worth including the warm-up) and it was over 80 degrees. Not exactly what we were used to. But the coaches there were super hospitable and helped us get through what was a very tough WOD, especially if you did overhead squats like Marc did.

Ben, one of the coaches, gave us some lunch recos and we headed off. No Crossfits really exist near the central area of the city, so we knew we were going to have to walk a bit. Fine. But all of the places that Ben gave us had huge queues out the door, and we were definitely hungry. We probably should have stayed and queued but didn't, and low and behold, we probably didn't eat for at least another hour. Oh well. The good news is that we were right near the next destination of the day -- The Sydney Jewish Museum.

They had special holiday hours, which weren't posted when I checked the website, and of course, we showed up just as they closed their doors for the day. It didn't help that it was Friday afternoon (Shabbat), so that kind of killed that plan. Marc and I then decided to head over and walk through Hyde Park. Except that Marc thought we could go straight and make a quick turn, but instead we ended up adding about 2 miles to our already long day of walking (plus Crossfit). For the record, Marc is normally fabulous with his directions.

So we missed Hyde Park. Heh. I was somewhat determined to make something out of the day, so we ventured over to the Hyde Park Barracks, and learned a thing or two about Australia's history with initially being a penal colony (with respect to Western civilization as opposed to the Aborigines, who obviously have been here a very long time).

Headed back to the hotel, and we made a decision not to head out to Bondi, one of the prettier suburbs on the water for dinner. Took a gamble and headed over to a place close to the hotel -- Rockpool Bar & Grill. Ended up being awesome. One of our friends, +Erik, connected us with the sommelier there. Michael gave us a great reco for the wine and the food was just what we needed. Simple, fresh and awesome. 

All in all, not a horrible day, but kind of frustrating. That said, we know many of you would be willing to trade places with us in a second, so we know we are incredibly fortunate. Thanks for tuning in. And don't forget to check out the Flickr feed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/