The photo of Harbour Bridge and the first photo of the Opera House were taken from Circular Quay on our first morning in Sydney. Adjacent to this port area is colonial Sydney, an area called the Rocks. The photo of me with the statue of the Scottie dog, Biggles, shows sandstone bricks on both the street and the background buildings. Sydney sits on a bed of sandstone and all the early colonial buildings have this color. I found myself paying attention to which of these structures would have been here when my Dad visited this harbor in 1944. Of course, these colonial buildings would have been as would the Harbour Bridge, which was opened in 1932.

The Opera House was conceived in 1956 and built over the following seventeen years. It is considered the most iconic building of the 20th Century and won the Pritzker Prize for Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect who did the design. The Opera House has five performance venues, the Concert Hall, the Dame Joan Sutherland Theater, the Drama Theater, the Playhouse, and the Studio. Sizes range from seating 150 to over 2500. The Opera House is owned by New South Wales and all the venues are available to anyone to rent. The 4th photo above is the front view of the Joan Sutherland Theatre where Sandy and I heard Turendot and where we are sitting in the last photo. The acoustics were wonderful and we saw and heard a memorable performance.

Sydney did not disappoint. I hope I can come back some day.