It was a wonderful weekend in Sydney. We didn't get too lost, thanks to our GPS system that hubby laboured over in terms of setting up the laptop and new touch screen in the dashboard of the car. We saw new places, tried new things, stayed at a new location and took our new lens out for a spin.

I like visiting Sydney, but I can't permanently stay there. It has such a great buzz to it and such an interesting mix of glamour and grittiness. There's people every where, cars zooming along impatiently, hardly any car packing, interesting architecture, and fascinating characters everywhere. It's a city full of contrasts - take the busy and noisy express way and the beautiful rolling green laws of the Royal Botanic Gardens. I love wandering around the city, overhearing bits and pieces of conversations.

Play! at the Sydney Opera House was excellent. We had fantastic seats - front row of the dress circle, slap bang in the middle. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra sounded excellent. I was submerged in sound, while my eyes feasted on the video games scenes projected above the orchestra. This performance has made me realised how much I miss attending the symphony concerns. It's been at least seven or so years since I attend my last concert. I must make more of an effort to attend the Canberra Symphony concerts!

We also caught up with friends, who will be getting married early next year. We spent a lovely afternoon having lunch with them (hot sizzling chicken and beef dishes at the China Town food court!), wandering around Darling Harbour, and finishing off with afternoon at the heavenly Lindt chocolate cafe. There was a number of exquisite Lindt chocolate creations including cakes, Lindt balls (I had no idea that there were so many extra flavours like raspberry, coffee etc!), ice cream, biscuits and much more. Hubby and I slowly savoured a dark chocolate degustation, accompanied by two dark hot chocolates (real hot chocolate!). It was absolutely heavenly. And....get this....I was extremely chocolated-out and sugared-out that I had difficulty finishing all the chocolate goodies. Me! Having trouble finishing chocolate!Great way to spend time with friends.

We took quite a few photos over the weekend. I'll process them once my desktop machine is back up and running. Some photos to be posted soon I hope!

I was ecstatic to discover tonight that Woolies now has the almost-orgasmic Green & Black organic chocolate in their chocolate aisle. Granted that Woolies only has two lines - the Maya Gold (I bought the last bar!) and Dark 70%. Hopefully they'll bring in my other favourites, including the Mint and White (I don't like white chocolate, but I do like this organic one!). The Cherry is really nice as well, despite my dislike of cherries in general. Oh, I'm in chocolate heaven!

The gig for the Living Wake went fairly well despite the raucous slightly drunken crowd. Baby It's Cold Outside seem to have caught their attention, as well as our African number, Singabahambayo. I got to play my lovely djembe for the latter piece.

It's an interesting experience attending a wake of a near-total stranger. The wake was for one of our group member's dad. Despite the tiredness permeating my body, I was fascinated at the glimpse of this life, told through the often hilarious stories. One of my favourites was the story of the ladder they stole (I couldn't remember the purpose) while living in the UK. They took the ladder up the stairwell....where it got jammed. After some hard shoving, the ladder stubbornly stayed stuck. After some colourful language, they decided to leave it there.....where it still was after a return trip to the UK five years later!

After hearing all those stories, I've come to a conclusion that Robbie (the star of the Living Wake) is the definition of a larrikin!

As it's nearly 11pm, it's time to head to bed, but not before I give the house a quick clean. Hubby will be home in a few hours, and I don't want him coming home to a dirty house, especially since I won't be able to greet him as I'll be at a gig!