Rick's Next Adventure: Better Late than Never in Sydney

I was set to fly out to Sydney on Tuesday morning, but found out early evening Monday that my flight had been cancelled. Apparently I've been extremely lucky in my travels, this was the first time I ever had it happen. I then discovered, that when you live in Hawaii, getting a new flight is difficult on short notice. First I had one for Friday, then I managed to scoop up a Thursday flight...so was only down 2 days of my trip. Then the hotel...I managed to convince them to "let" me pay for the first two nights while I wasn't there in order not to lose the whole reservation. Lucky me. Then, just to be sure that it was the perfect travel shi*storm....the hotel sent me an email that they had overbooked and had cancelled my entire reservation not half an an hour later. Between the flight and hotel problems, I can safely say that I spent at least 12 hours on the phone, mostly on hold and waiting for someone's supervisor. It all worked out eventually and I arrived in Sydney on Friday night. The weather was uncooperative for my first day. I awoke in my 40th floor apartment to the floor to ceiling view of rain, and until it slowed down a bit, I couldn't even see the city. The rest of the day was much the same, though there were brief respites to make it easier to dash from one place to the next. I've been to Sydney many times, but there are still several "must-do" things that remain undone. A rainy day was the perfect time to take care of one them, a tour of the inside of the Sydney Opera house. I tried to book online, but that didn't work out, so I headed to the harbour. I dodged the rain as much as I could and caught the train to Circular Quay and walked along the harbour to get the ticket at the box office. It costs more for the ticket at the box office, yes they are aware that you can't actually buy the ticket online and no, you can't have that price. We just work here. The same everywhere. I had only a short wait for my tour, and soon was being led through the rain to the front terrace of the Opera house, where the tour really started. The guide was good and even moderately funny...and who doesn't like the accent? The first thing you really notice is the massive purple carpet in the huge foyer. The building is definitely from the 1970's and they seem to have determined that they are going to keep the look. It does have a certain appeal to people my age. The story of the architecture was interesting and it was cool to see the various halls in the facility. The largest hall has a very interesting, and completely unexpectedly kitschy, ceiling. I kind of liked it, but it wasn't what I expected...somehow I thought it would be all somber and stuffy inside...Instead it's a little bit Vegas and a little bit elegant.