Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Well another busy day in Sydney is complete and I got a few more things crossed off my “Things to Do and See in Sydney” list (it’s pretty big and seems to get bigger, not smaller). My first stop was at the Art Gallery of NSW. Just a short 7 minute walk from my hotel and located in the Botanical Gardens. It is a really nice spot and a popular spot on this morning. I of course wanted to visit the Art Gallery but I had to visit it before the 13th of March because of a special exhibit I wanted to see.
This is St. Mary's Cathedral which is down the street from my hotel and on the way to the museum. When I went inside it instantly reminded me of some other cathedral I have visited....I just can't remember which one it was. It's based on really similar architecture seen in France and throughout Europe so who knows where it was.
The exhibit was called “The First Emperor: China’s Entombed Warriors” and while there are many amazing artifacts on display, the highlight would have to be the Terracotta Warriors. Only discovered in 1974, these warriors mark one of the most important archaeological finds of modern times. I was super excited about it and I can’t lie….I was a little disappointed. I feel like I have visited enough museums and special exhibits by now that I have an idea of what works and what doesn’t. My first complaint was the queues. You had to wait in line to get a ticket and then wait in line to show your ticket and then wait in line to see any of the exhibits. Sometimes it was 3 people deep to see anything. They should limit how many people enter at a time. I feel it would lessen the frustration.....but just my opinion. I guess my biggest disappointment was that I was expecting to see more actual warriors. They have unearthed over 1900 of the 8000 warriors believed to be contained in several pits in the Shaanxi Province in China, but there were only 10, including some horses on display. Yes, things are always better left where they are found but I’m not heading to China anytime soon so I was hoping to see a few more here.Disappointment aside, it was a great glimpse at some amazing history and of course I couldn’t take pictures but is was awesome. The emperor buried at the site was Qin Shihuang born in 259 BCE. He became king of the small state of Qin at age 13 and spent the next 25 years defeating his rival states to unite the realm and form China much as we know it today. The dynasty he created only lasted about 15 years but was memorable. These warriors were buried within is tomb in order to protect the Emperor in the afterlife.
Once I left that exhibit I visited the rest of the museum. I had to ignore all the school children but then I really, really enjoyed the museum. It is a great place to spend a bit of time. The main part of the museum is free to visit so there really is no excuse not to see it. It was full of all kinds of wonderful things…….and a few not so wonderful (ok mostly just annoying school children). Here are a few of the pieces I liked.
This is Josef Albers' Homage to the Square: early fusion 1966. I know a really clever name.
A couple pictures of an Untitled work by Jannis Kounellis. What I found very interesting about it is that it actually includes a live flame from a blow torch.
The torch marks on the wall. They obviously move it around from day to day.
This is Nam June Paik's Buddha Game 1991.
The view of St. Mary's Cathedral from the second floor of the museum.
This one really grabbed my attention. This is When Memory Doesn't Persist by High School student Phoebe Rose Johnson. She created this after watching her Grandmother struggle with dementia. I imagine this is a very good interpretation.
I love dodos. This piece is the work of another High School student, Isabelle Jade Liu Yew Fai called Heading Towards Annihilation while Engaged in Trivial Conversation. I just like that. Kind of makes you think about life.
This is The sons of Clove II by Evariste Luminais.
From there I headed to the far side of the Botanical Gardens to take a quick look at Government House. As you remember in The Northern Territory, Government House is the official residence of the Administrator. Well here in New South Wales, it is the home of The Governor……..who basically has the same role but a different title. Government House was built between 1837 and 1845. You can take a tour of the house but you have to get tickets from the Gate House…….and no one seemed to be able to tell me where that was so I just looked at it from the outside. It kind of looks like a small castle on a great piece of land with lots of gardens and fountains and that kind of thing. Of course I loved it.
Government House. See just like a castle.
The back side of Government House. When there are no official functions going on you can enter as you please and wander around or hang out or whatever.
My next stop was at Parliament House. Normally located on some giant piece of land with big gardens and lots of space (like Government House), NSW’s Parliament House almost blends in with the rest of the buildings on the street (the State Library and the Hospital being on either side). I found it because I was carefully following the map and there is a security check point out front.
The ceiling in the reading room.
As we all know (unless I haven’t told you yet), Sydney was founded as a British convict colony in 1788. But by 1824 the city was inhabited by many free settlers and they established a small Legislative Council to assist the Governor (The Monarch's representative). Eventually a Legislative Assembly was formed (diminishes the Monarch's role certain government decisions) and NSW became a bicameral (2 house) parliament. Anyway, the building started small but has gradually become larger over the years as the size of the Legislative Council and Assembly grew (due to the growth in population). It wasn’t until 1974 that the rebuilding and renovations of the Parliament began. Of course the Legislative Council Chamber (The Upper House or Senate in some places) and the Legislative Assembly Chamber (The Lower House) have been restored and are still in full use today.
This is the Legislative Council Chamber (The Upper House......you can tell by the Red Carpet. The Assembly chamber is green). I managed to get in and visit this room, along with a school group so I got to listen in on the information spiel. The kids had some very interesting questions like "what's that?" and "why are all those books there?" It was funny. The tour guide was clearly irritated.
This room was purchased prefabricated from Melbourne. When it was first constructed in Sydney in 1856, the boards from the packing boxes it was shipped in were used to line the walls and then plastered over (cost saving measure). The walls have since be reconstructed to slightly better building standards but they kept this section of the wall (behind a little door) to remind everyone of the meager start to a great building.
Once I wandered around enough inside I made my way back to my hotel. Of course I found other things along the way.
This is in front of the hospital. The hospital use to be fondly called the Rum Hospital (probably still is). This was because the company that won the contract to build the hospital didn't want money to do the job.......they wanted the exclusive rights to the rum trade in NSW.
A little later that evening I met up with Deb for some shopping and some dinner. Debi and I were both excited to get to Sydney to shop, not only because there are so many more and better stores than in Darwin but also because stores are open longer here. We were both really disappointed to learn that in downtown Sydney, most of the store still closed by 1830 (6:30pm......they close by 1730 in Darwin) but on Thursdays they stayed open until 2100 (9:00pm). So we tried on a few dresses and then wandered over to Darling Harbour for some dinner.
Debi inside Strand Arcade. Originally opened in 1892, it is the only arcade in Sydney that still remains in its original form. Inside you will find mostly small exclusive boutiques and that kind of thing.
Debi had to fly back to Darwin Friday morning but not to worry, we will be meeting up again next weekend in Alice Springs. Of course I still have many more fun filled days in Sydney before I make my way to a part of Australia that is fondly known as The Red Centre.Julie
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