1800's

After days of rain, there was beautiful sunshine.. so off to Vaucluse House - 1805 colonial estate.

 

 

Tearoom for lunch :)

We still had time so next stop... Elizabeth Bay House - an 1835 colonial mansion.

My favourite - the drawing room!

library & toys

Who knew the state library could be so interesting! Joined the free tour & learned a whole lotta history of Australia & the building...

Matthew Flinders & his trusty cat, Trim :)

Mitchell Library Reading Room. I think he said there are another 6 levels below this for offices & archives!

 The beautiful Shakespeare Room - so grand. It holds 4 of Shakespeare's original folios.

There was also a pop art magazine exhibition on which was fun

Then to the Museum of Sydney for their vintage toy exhibition

That bunny with the lawnmower is the best!

 I remember those tile puzzles with the pictures :)

 

 Noah's ark, complete with animals. Top right: 1800's animal pull along toy & the thing next to it that looks like a dagger is a sterling silver mother-of-pearl rattle!

 Motion picture in the ole days with spinning lanterns...

 

 This is a collection of toys from cereal boxes from 1 company over the years. Space toys & of course train sets & billy carts!

 

 

more museums!

Hyde Park Barracks - so sad yet fascinating at the same time imaging what life was like for these convicts!

Above: Portrait of convicts in the courtyard. In front, a model of a flogging frame.


Left: 70 men in this room of hammocks. Double that when they added another level to it!

St James' free lunch time concert - an oasis amongst the chaos of the city :)

As I walked down Macquarie St, The Parliament House was open for visitors, so I traipsed in! Here's my fav room - The Jubilee Room.

Then off to Susannah Place Museum at The Rocks. A block of four terrace houses that was built in 1844. (I wasn't allowed to touch anything or take any photos inside.) Each room is restored to a different era. Many stories of the people who lived there - all the way to 1990!

The lovely 1920s corner shop complete with old-fashioned lollies, gifts and household items

lego!

Went to the lego exhibition in town - just amazing how they built these towers! Each of them taking weeks to build.

  

Centrepoint, Tokyo Skytree, Hong Kong International Commerce Tower, Shanghai Tower

 

   Taipei 101 Tower, Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia

The ones in the middle are still in progress for Barangaroo. The white one on the left comes complete with pool & tennis court

 

Infinity Tower (Bris), Q1 (Gold Coast),  Eureka Tower (Melb), Central Park Tower (Perth)

 You can even see the trees & structure inside.  See through light blue outside & deep blue inside. Lego has so many more colours now compared to when I was a kid!

Crazy construction! Some of these towers twist, change shape, stack, curve - all things that lego doesn't do!

A serene place to sit at Sydney Museum

Then off to Customs House. Such a nice change of pace with the hustle & bustle of the city outside: