mother and daughter weekend

We had a delightful time together. We thoroughly enjoyed everything we saw and did.

We discovered we have VERY different sleeping styles. Chicky Babe likes to sleep in a neatly tucked in bed, I on the other hand like to untuck the whole bed to be able to stick my limbs out in order to regulate my temperature. My bed is closest the window!

 This is the view from our hotel window- it was raining when we arrived. The boat you can see is the Queen Mary 2.

These photos were taken from the roof top pool area. The Hotel (The Holiday Inn Old Sydney) was an ideal spot for a girls weekend away. It was an easy stroll to the ferries and there was a taxi rank just outside the hotel. Plus the Rocks is such a nice place to spend the weekend especially with the Sunday market right on your doorstep!

The Rocks also has lovely old buildings, nice little cafes and interesting walkways.

All of the events we went to Sydney for had a No Photography rule so we will have to make do with our memories and purchased souvenirs. It was interesting to take a close up look at the costumes and props from Harry Potter and the Picasso exhibition inspired me with ideas for teaching the kids at school.

 We took the ferry to Manly and we had lunch with the lovely Fifi and her daughter.A beautiful sunny day spent at a very nice "hipster" cafe on the beach followed by a browse through the markets there and a coincidental meeting with a former student of Fifi's who had bought one of her paintings at an exhibition. So I had the privilege to see one of Fifi's paintings for real. Beautiful! She really is a magical fish!

 On our last day we stashed our bags in the hotel lobby and made our way to the botanical gardens for lunch and a walk.

 Look carefully - you can just see the bird having a bath in the fountain, he was having such fun!

Beautiful, shady, full of flowers...

and a gazillion flying foxes making a hell of a noise!

We hadn't planned to but we ended up walking all the way back to our hotel. We followed the meandering paths and before we knew it there was a sign saying Opera House 2mins. (Mind you we saw about three signs saying 2 mins to the opera house!) So we just kept walking. It was such a nice walk although by the end we were feeling a little burnt.

In all a lovely time.