Sunday, March 19, 2006
Bondi and Papagena: March 14
We used our Sydney Passes to ride the Bondi Explorer, a bus which took us from Circular Quay eastward along the shore of Sydney Harbor, following the coves and points through several extremely affluent and stylish neighborhoods, past yacht clubs and public parks that afforded spectacular views of downtown Sydney, including the Harbor Bridge and Opera House. The bus stopped several times to allow passengers to take photographs. The Sydney and Bondi Explorer buses are a tremendous service to tourists and probably spare local drivers a considerable nightmare of traffic congestion caused disoriented and confused out-of-town drivers. Our bus took us as far north as Vaucluse, near the mouth of the harbor at South Head, and then south along the outer coast to Bondi Beach, Australia’s most famous beach.
Today was a weekday, the day after Commonwealth Day, and the slightly overcast skies and constant breeze probably accounted for the emptiness of this beach. It’s a long, deep beach composed of extremely fine white sand, which was immaculately clean: not a bit of trash anywhere, no dogs, and no remnants of fire pits or beer parties. The beach facilities and utilities were extremely well designed and well maintained, and the smaller beaches in neighboring coves were equally attractive and tasteful. The recorded narrative on our bus, as well as the comments of the two young Canadians we met on last night’s ferry ride, led us to expect widespread abandonment of conventional swimwear, but most of the swimmers were attired in the traditional manner. [The absence of trash and litter on the beach now seems typically Australian – we have seen almost no trash or litter anywhere, particularly along public roads or in public plazas. Australians seem very proud of their landscape and appear strongly committed to keeping it clean.]
After taking a mile-long cliff-walk (along a paved path), we returned to Bondi and ate lunch in an Italian side-walk café. We lay on the beach until about 3 pm and then returned to our hotel, where we took showers and relaxed before dinner. We ate in a brasserie facing the opera house, and then strolled over to the elevated plaza surrounding that well-known architectural specimen. The plaza supports several buildings, each under a set of the famous scalloped “sails,” and the complex includes a drama theatre, a spectacular, very large concert hall, and opera hall. Despite the magnificent contours and outer texture of this structure, the interior of the opera hall is rather modest and under-designed, the stage and orchestra pit are quite small, and the seats in the opera theatre run in uninterrupted rows all the way across the chamber, from left to right: no pedestrian aisles separate the seats into sections and provide for easy access. There are just a few “lifts” for disabled patrons and only one restroom for each sex.
The performance was musically outstanding, although I found some aspects of the production jarring and distracting. The dialogue was spoken in Australian English, with several contemporary idiomatic expressions and gestures, and Papagena was portrayed as an Australian bush character, who carried a six-pack around with him. His voice and that of Pamina were very impressive, however, and the overall effect was quite charming.
Today was a weekday, the day after Commonwealth Day, and the slightly overcast skies and constant breeze probably accounted for the emptiness of this beach. It’s a long, deep beach composed of extremely fine white sand, which was immaculately clean: not a bit of trash anywhere, no dogs, and no remnants of fire pits or beer parties. The beach facilities and utilities were extremely well designed and well maintained, and the smaller beaches in neighboring coves were equally attractive and tasteful. The recorded narrative on our bus, as well as the comments of the two young Canadians we met on last night’s ferry ride, led us to expect widespread abandonment of conventional swimwear, but most of the swimmers were attired in the traditional manner. [The absence of trash and litter on the beach now seems typically Australian – we have seen almost no trash or litter anywhere, particularly along public roads or in public plazas. Australians seem very proud of their landscape and appear strongly committed to keeping it clean.]
After taking a mile-long cliff-walk (along a paved path), we returned to Bondi and ate lunch in an Italian side-walk café. We lay on the beach until about 3 pm and then returned to our hotel, where we took showers and relaxed before dinner. We ate in a brasserie facing the opera house, and then strolled over to the elevated plaza surrounding that well-known architectural specimen. The plaza supports several buildings, each under a set of the famous scalloped “sails,” and the complex includes a drama theatre, a spectacular, very large concert hall, and opera hall. Despite the magnificent contours and outer texture of this structure, the interior of the opera hall is rather modest and under-designed, the stage and orchestra pit are quite small, and the seats in the opera theatre run in uninterrupted rows all the way across the chamber, from left to right: no pedestrian aisles separate the seats into sections and provide for easy access. There are just a few “lifts” for disabled patrons and only one restroom for each sex.
The performance was musically outstanding, although I found some aspects of the production jarring and distracting. The dialogue was spoken in Australian English, with several contemporary idiomatic expressions and gestures, and Papagena was portrayed as an Australian bush character, who carried a six-pack around with him. His voice and that of Pamina were very impressive, however, and the overall effect was quite charming.
# posted by Ken @ 4:37 AM 
