Sydney harbor

We arrived in Sydney around 8 o'clock in the morning. I was on the wrong side of the plane to get a good view of anything but ocean, but what I glimpsed as the plane made its final turn was beautiful. I breezed through immigration and customs without any delays or questions.

I had 2 to 3 hours to kill before the plane to Perth left, so I decided to see Sydney, or least a little of it. The Sydney airport, like other good airports such as Boston and London's Heathrow, has a subway stop right at the terminal. I cashed a traveler's check and bought a pass for the 15 minute train ride into downtown Sydney and Circle Quay where the Sydney Oprah House is. Fifteen minutes later I was downtown walking around the Oprah House and looking up at the Sydney Bridge.

The bridge features hikes up the top where they claim the view is spectacular. However, it costs $150 AU ($75 US) to do this 15 minutes. What a rip! I can spend a day in Disneyland for less. Plus, they make you take a breathalyzer before going because they don't want drunks up there. Needless to say, I didn't bother.

I hiked around downtown looking for a place to get a good breakfast. Downtown is surprisingly small and vacant. There was no traffic, very few cars or trucks on the road, and almost no pedestrians. This is 10 am in the middle of the week.

I found a small cafe to eat in. I ordered a breakfast sandwich. The waitress was very nice. She asked what sauce I wanted on my breakfast sandwich.

"Sauce?", I asked.
"Yea. Tomato sauce, or something" she answered.
Tomato sauce is catsup. They put it on everything here. I certainly didn't want it on my egg and bacon sandwich. I asked her to instead put some mayonnaise on it. The poor girl turned a sickly shade a green and shuttered at the thought of this. "Are you sure?" she asked.
It took some convincing, but she finally agreed. She must think that Yanks are weird. She watched me out of the corner of her eye as I ate it. Perhaps she thought I was going to drop dead right there at her table.