Day 5: Art Inspired

Thursday was simply a fun, spontaneous day. We had a HUGE itch to shop - and wanted to scratch it just a little bit...but before hitting up the stores Adam drove us into the city and we took a dance class with him at the Sydney Dance Company. [fyi Adam is a professional dancer here, is in the ballet company, and was on Australia's Dancing with the Stars] The beginner's jazz class was fun and the instructor was hilarious! There were also auditions going on for West Side Story, so it was neat listening and seeing some amazing singers/dancers...Adam's girlfriend Emma is actually in the finals of the audition today! Fingers crossed she gets it :)

After our hour and forty-five minute long dance class (long, right?) Katie and I changed and were ready for the day! We walked along the water's edge - under the harbour bridge and with opera house in sight - until we reached The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, which was simply beautiful! Grabbed a quick lunch and then continued our walk and made our way somehow to Darling Harbour. Oh, and along the way we made a quick visit to Lord Nelson Brewery, the oldest pub here. Walking across the bridge at Darling Harbour we were stopped and asked if we wanted to paint...AmEx was doing a fundraiser for a children's program of arts. So we went with it and painted something inspirational, as we stood in the bright sunshine :) It was SO much fun - surprisingly, especially since I'm not much of an artist haha With our canvases in hand we then walked over to Paddy's Market - a HUGE warehouse filled with stalls, like San Lorenzo Market in Florence, lots of bags, jewelry, souvenirs, etc. So fun just walking slowly up and down each row and was happy to by a pair of sunnies (aka sunglasses). Next stop: Circular Quay and walked over to see the Opera House up close!!! I think that the closer you get to it, the funnier it looks - I mean, it's an amazing structure, but is pretty weird looking. Checked to see if we could get some tickets to a show, but all sold out, but that's okay...

long long day, to say the least, but so fabulous to see the city on foot - totally worth it :) Another great day...