could aptly be entitled "Connecting with Relatives" because that is exactly what we did! Rick has cousins in Sydney, Charles and Margaret Klassen, who are our only relatives in Australia. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them and felt a bond of kinship immediately!
We left Melbourne as soon as I returned to school from my week at camp with the Grade 6 classes (more about this in my upcoming blog about completing my first term of teaching in Australia). Of course we got lost en route to our weekend car parking facility and panicked that we would not get to the airport in time for our flight. We were flying with Tiger Airlines, a discount airline from Singapore, who are notorious for some horrendous horror flying stories. Concern was averted with some help from Marjorie, our usually dependent but not always reliable GPS system navigator! We were met at the airport by Charles, whom we recognized immediately as a Klassen, similar in looks to Rick! We had a delicious dinner together at their home, the first tasty meal that Karin had eaten after a week at camp! 
cream or a "flat white" coffee at needed rest stops along our treks. Still wanting to see more of Sydney, we headed down to the central business district known as "The Rocks", a historical area with old
The next morning we headed to the city via the Sydney train system. Train travel was relatively uncomplicated here, after our many harrowing Melbourne train experiences, and we even enjoyed the ride in a state-of-the-art double-decker car!
Our first impressive sighting was the incredibly big and imposing Harbour Bridge!
And then it came - our first glimpse of the famous Opera House buildings!
There are really five separate theatres that make up the Sydney Opera House complex and each theatre can have a different event running therein at the same time. All in all, it was much more imposing in real life than in any pictures we had previously seen of the complex.
What an icon for the city - an imposing edifice recognized the world around! We took an "essential" tour of the complex in the morning and learned the history of its architectural creation, which took 14 years to complete and cost $102 million dollars to construct amidst controversy.
In the afternoon we attended a production of Verdi's La Traviata in the opera theatre, which is the smaller of the two central buildings. The set was absolutely spectacular, the music was sublime, and the singing was superb. It was a heart-rending rendition, leaving us close to tears.
After the show we headed by ferry over the water of the harbour to Manly Beach, where we met up with Charles and Margaret for a walk along the ocean.
After dinner there, we returned to the complex in the evening to complete our day's cultural experience by attending the Sydney Symphony concert in the larger theatre. The hall was most impressive, almost totally constructed from different types of wood. It had 18 plexiglass donuts suspended from the ceiling for optimum acoustics. The concert highlight was the dramatic Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. The soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto was none other than our own Canadian pianist, Louis Lortie!
The
concert was very well attended. It was beautiful to see the Harbour Bridge lit up at night and to walk outside on the balcony at intermission to watch all the boats on the bay.
On Sunday one of Charles and Margaret's sons, with his family of 4 children, came over for breakfast.
The day was bright and sunny and the rest of the day was spent visiting the sites of Sydney with Charles and Margaret. We had a great time together, visiting the "Gap" at Watsons Bay, which provides spectacular views of ocean cliffs.
Thereafter we drove to the well-known Bondi Beach, where the 2010 surfing competition was being held that afternoon!
After watching for a while, we hiked along the beautiful Coastal Walk.
We enjoyed a gelato ice-
cream or a "flat white" coffee at needed rest stops along our treks. Still wanting to see more of Sydney, we headed down to the central business district known as "The Rocks", a historical area with oldwarehouses converted to trendy shops and restaurants. We even discovered a Sunday market there!
We completed the day with a delicious dinner together at a Thai restarant, before boarding a late flight back home to Melbourne.
We loved Sydney and definitely plan to return some time again - to visit the surrounding Blue Mountains, to climb the famous Harbour Bridge,
to see its art galleries and to connect with family once again! We arrived back home in Melbourne to find our car and our home safe and sound, not like the car sculpture that we discovered in Sydney!!
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