Today was disembarkation day. We got ourselves out of our room by 8am as directed, bidding farewell to our steward Kemal as we left. He and his colleagues did a great job keeping our cabin clean and tidy.
We had a final buffet breakfast, lingering until 9am when we were obliged to be off the ship. The skies were much cloudier and there was even a little rain which was not in the forecast. It was a reminder just how lucky we were for our arrival into Sydney harbor the morning before.
It was easy to find our luggage, pop through customs and get out of the terminal. We had to wait in a taxi queue for about 20 minutes as the taxis slowly dribbled in on this gray day. Evidently the cabbies (and Uber drivers) were not eager to come to this out of the way cruise terminal.
Our driver deposited us at the Four Seasons just before 10am. We checked in at the Club 32 lounge as I’d been directed and were able to hang out at the lounge until our room was ready, which was less than an hour. The lounge offered a full breakfast buffet each day, plus free drinks and appetizers through the rest of the day. It would be a friendly home away from home for the week.
The hotel manager, Kartik Kapoor, came to personally greet us. We had been introduced electronically by Amy and Chris’s colleague and the former Sydney manager, Bahram Sepahi.
Our room, 2215, a Full Harbor Club Suite, was easily as spectacular as the website photos, with a picture-perfect view of the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, and the ever-present Queen Mary 2. I happily plopped myself in the corner window seat while Barb puttered around unpacking and putting things away.
Soon enough it was close to noon so we went back to the lounge to check out the snacks before heading over to the Opera House for our 1pm tour. We were given headsets by the no-nonsense guide and led on our hour-long tour.
The tour was informative and there were some interesting stories about the history of the site on Bennelong Point including our first reference to Bennelong, an indigenous man with a complicated and fascinating history with the settlers from the First Fleet. We also got the complicated and fascinating story of the Opera House’s design and construction including the story of its architect, Jorn Utzon, and the team that finished the project led by Peter Hall.
We got to see one of the black box theaters which was showing a cabaret, Gatsby, but we weren’t allowed to take photos. We also got to see the main concert hall where the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing what we believe was a portion of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony for an upcoming performance. The sound of the hall and symphony was indeed exquisite, but no photos or videos, please.
We took lots of photos where we could, with particular fascination for the tiles, angles of the sails, and glass walls. I hope some of these photos are interesting to later viewers. It just seemed imperative to shoot whatever I could because when would I get another chance?
We finished our tour energized and a little overwhelmed. We took some more photos on the forecourt.
We headed in the general direction of the Museum of Sydney which was close and free. Along the way, we window shopped for opals and other souvenirs, and maybe some Baskin Robbins.
We got to the Museum of Sydney a little before 3pm and plunged in. It was a small museum but housed several video areas and it turned out the videos were quite long. We settled into one about the building of the Sydney Opera House which repeated a lot of what we heard on the tour but with lots more details, photos and interviews. There was also a Lego model of the Opera House which seemed to have some symmetry what with Utzon coming from Denmark and all.
There were displays about the First Fleet and some of the early settlers, along with another video that went into great detail about the background and arrival of the Fleet, the story of Bennelong, and further stories about the spread of Europeans beyond the Blue Mountains a generation later.
Though not discussed at the museum, I found there were interesting parallels between Bennelong and Squanto in the Massachusetts Bay colony some 170 years earlier. Both were kidnapped by Europeans and spent several years being taught the English language and European customs; both traveled to England to be acculturated and displayed; neither wanted to stay in England and wanted to return home; both learned English well enough to be early translators and important points of contact between their tribes and the Europeans; both became disillusioned by their treatment from the Europeans and chose to re-assimilate with their tribes rather than live “European”; relationships between the European and indigenous tribes deteriorated soon after the death of each.
I found it sad that the English seemed to learn little from their repeated struggles encountering indigenous people in their various territories. It’s the nature of imperial arrogance, I suppose, but I wonder to what extent there were progressive voices in England or other European nations trying to find a better way. I guess I’m wishing for early emergence of a Star Trek “Prime Directive” sentiment (do not interfere with the natural development of alien civilizations) but that was not at all the case…especially not to be expected in a penal colony under military leadership.
We stayed until they booted us out of the museum at 5pm closing time. We came back to the hotel and were delighted to see The Four Seasons gave us a couple of welcome gifts, including a 40th anniversary spread of rose petals on the bed, a nice bottle of champagne, and an Opera House Pavlova. We resisted the temptation to break into them before dinner.
I showered and we visited the lounge once more for a drink and some nibbles. We got recommendations from the concierge for an easy dinner that night in The Rocks and requested reservations for the next few nights at Rockpool and Mr. Wong’s. We came back to the room for a while to watch the Queen Mary 2 depart which made for a fine show as the sun set and the city lights came on.
We ended up at The Rocks Cafe for dinner where Barb had the kids menu fish and chips while I got lamb skewers with a chickpea spread and pita slices…and more very good fries. After dinner we walked for just a bit around The Rocks before retiring to our room and busting into the champagne and pavlova. We did our best but could not quite finish either.
We navigated around the hotel’s set of Australian and international TV stations but had a hard time finding something good to fall asleep to. We ended up more or less staying awake until nearly midnight before nodding off. All in all, a mighty fine day.
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