A post! yay! I have had so many things on recently its been crazy! I will need to split recent events into various posts which won’t be in order, but I want to start with my mini-holiday so that is how it will be. This last weekend I took mum to Sydney for the Christmas present I bought her – a chocolate and coffee walking tour around Sydney – yuuum!! We flew over Saturday morning and spent the day shopping in the city. We had to get accommodation out at the airport as the entire city was booked out (with the exception of $400 and $500 a night rooms – one was even $1500 for one night!!). It turned out we were not far from the train station, so we didn’t have to take taxi’s everwhere which was great! Shopping was fun even though we didn’t buy much. I did buy a new pair of jeans and a new pink top though. Mum got a really nice pair of shoes on sale. We did our usual window tour of ‘Dreamland’ (aka David Jones). We went up every single floor and couldn’t believe how ugly most of the clothes were! Out of the whole store I only found two dresses I liked – one was $500 and the other was $1700 which we laughed at saying “sure, lets by three of each.” When we reached the very top floor, we came to a level richly painted and covered with plush carpet. Glass display cabinets housed a few select items, and a lady sat at a glass table off to one side. We were looking for the restaurant level, and obviously came across the super expensive, special occasion only section. Mum and I walked along oohing and aahing admiring, but daring not to touch various outfits, while hastily making a way to ‘down’ escalator on the other side of the room. It was so funny! We found out later that the restaurant was on the top level of the other David Jones building diagonally across the street ^_^
We had dinner at the hotel and caught a glimpse of the Queen Vic cruise ship moored at Circular Quay. Far out it is huge! The ship was waiting to go off on her maiden voyage while the Queen Elizabeth II was on its way back from her final voyage, before being retired and sent to Africa to become a luxury hotel. Although we didn’t get to see the two ships passing each other, we did get to see the QEII moored in the harbour on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, mum and I got up early and had breakfast at the Queen Victoria Building while waiting for our chocolate tour to start. The tour was so much fun! We were with a really nice group of people and the tour guide was lovely. We started at a cafe where we had coffees and chocolate brownies to start. I had a machiatto which was an interesting experience. I think I will stick to my cuppacinos from now on. The brownie was super yummy though and we learnt about coffee plants and how coffee was first discovered. I didn’t realise coffee came from berries! We then walked to the Haighs chocolate shop and sampled dark and milk chocolate pastilles and a shiraz truffle (yuummmmm!!!!). We also got to see cocoa beans and bean pods, and even sampled the raw ground cocoa bean which was like nuts with a chocolate aftertaste. We were then free to purchase whatever we desired. I bought heaps. We then walked through The Strand arcade and learnt where Sydneys oldest coffee shop is, as we made our way to the Lindt concept store and cafe. We sampled chocolate macaroons and orange and hazelnut chocolate slab. I adore lindt chocolate especially the Lindor balls, and was delighted to discover there were tonnes more flavours than I had ever tried!! I got cookies and cream, cinnamon, extra dark, peppermint, orange, raspberry and peanut butter ones. Sooo yummmmy!!! I also bought heaps of other things too. From Lindt, we headed to the David Jones confectionary section and tasted chocolate coated orange peel and blueberry mousse truffles. Once again, I bought more chocolate – this time chocolate coated berries. Our chocolate sampling was followed by a stop at the gelato bar where we each got a scoop of gelato in a cone. I got Hazelnut flavour which was super yummy! Finally, we headed over to the Sheridon hotel and sat down to another warm drink. This time I had a Max Brenner milk hot chocolate served in a hug mug. Aaawwww yuuuuummmm! And I want a hug mug! Talk about chocolately heaven! The tour was every bit as good as I had hoped! And Mum had a good time too which is most important ^_^
After the chocolate tour, Mum and I headed over to the Capitol Theatre to see Billy Elliot the Musical. I would be lying if I said it was as good as I thought it would be. I had no idea there would be so much swearing in it, and I was cringing so much I had a nasty headache by the time Intermission came around. Something about 10 or 13 year old kids swearing and being sworn at just doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t remember there being so much bad language in the movie, but it has been a while since I saw it so maybe there was. The choreography and performances in the musical were fabulous though. I particularly like the ballet sequence and the tap dancing at the end. I really loved the scene with Billy and Michael trying on the ladies clothes, and the giant dresses dancing around. There is no denying how clever those kids are. In short, if the cast just kept there mouths shut it would have been a really good show! I would not watch it again. Well, maybe with earmuffs.
Billy Elliot was followed by lunch/dinner then we headed back to the hotel where I got a craving for potato wedges and ordered room service. We had an early start yesterday (Monday) to catch the plane which left Sydney at 7:00, and were home by 8:30. Overall it was a great weekend, and better still, Quin was actually happy to see me for once! Now if only I could get rid of this sugar headache -_-’
