Three days in Sydney

We had an inkling of our post retirement lifestyle by taking a 3 day weekend in Sydney this week. The only qualification was that I spent Saturday on work related matters: a conference at the beautiful old Public Library of NSW - the 2020 School Education Summit. I really enjoyed listening to and thinking about presentations by some of Australia's leading academics and researchers - around future possibilities for public education.


Sunday we were up early to meet with Sydney Clare at Glebe for breakfast at digi.kaf in St John's Road. She is looking really fit and energetic despite her 8 and 3/4 month pregnancy. The weather was beautiful in Sydney this weekend, clear, brilliant light, gentle warmth in the sun. We were amazed to see magnolia blooms so early in the season on our walk down Bridge Road.

We were intrigued by the old Abbey Restaurant in Bridge Road. Why has this beautiful old house been left to get so dilapidated in The Abbey's grounds?

We still felt like exploring so we headed off west to Granville in search of more exotic settings and foodie delights. Once at Granville we felt quite subdued walking across the infamous railway bridge that still evokes strong memories of that shocking accident in 1977. Once we'd crossed the Bold St bridge a wonderful find cheered us up enormously.

Abla's Pastry Shop has a very bland and modern exterior but once inside its size and amazing displays of freshly baked Lebanese cakes, pastries & Arabic style chocolates are awe inspiring. The range is vast and fresh daily and we could not resist ordering a rather large selection. We found them fresh and luscious, drenched in honey, nuts and fruit, and thankfully lighter and less sweet than expected.

We celebrated a wonderful day in Sydney with a meal at our fave Little Istanbul in Perouse Road and a night finishing our weekend DVD watching marathon: The Home Sung Stories, Norma Khouri and Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble C'est Tout -yes another French film starring Audrey Toutou).

Monday we spent walking: 8/85 to Bondi Junction then Bondi Beach back to Coogee. It's all great sightseeing and allows us to walk off all those Abla pastries. We stayed quite late on Monday night so we could attend our first body corporate meeting - making it a very late return to Canberra that night and a bleary eyed start to our working week.