Sphinx

Two sphinx guard the entrance to the Domain opposite the Art Gallery of NSW. And keep an eye on the lunchtime joggers.

I wonder what they think, but it's just an enigma.

Later: I forgot to mention that Edmund Capon, Director of the Art Gallery (opposite) once said that what Sydney needed was :"more art and less joggers" !

He was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald as complaining "...half-humorously about the daily despoilment of the city's parks by people with "smelly, untidy, unattractive" bodies and "holier-than-thou" faces.

Seeing as the AGNSW has just bought a Cézanne, maybe he is getting his wish....

Lunchtime in The Domain

As the sign says:

Lunchtime office workers play ball games, take part in fitness groups, box, run, or just lie on the grass and relax (or like your loyal correspondent walk and take photos) in the lovely spring sunshine. (Yes, there were more men than women running around, but there were also women being active - boxing, fitness class, running....I just didn't get any decent pictures!)

What did you do at lunchtime today, or plan to do?

Bicycle Couriers

As I walked through Farrer Place in the city yesterday morning I saw all the bike couriers who wait for jobs there. Farrer Place has the huge Education Department building and 41 storey government tower facing it, so there's probably plenty of work. I introduced myself and these guys were Ok with me taking their picture.

I told them I thought they should be over in Beijing winning gold medals for Australia, cos this year's cycling team went from 6 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze medals in Athens to 1 silver this time!

Felix the Cat 3

There must be a Felix fan spreading the joy around Sydney! Is it a concerted campaign? Yet more tomorrow....when we ask the question "Is Felix Australian?"

Here the Felix song by clicking here.

Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat
Whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks

You'll laugh so much your sides will ache
Your heart will go pitter pat
Watching Felix, the wonderful cat.

Ice creams in winter

It's slow trade right now, cos it's pretty cold. Still, sometimes, perversely, I quite like a cold drink or ice cream on a cold day. Do you?

Belmore Park and Central Railway Station, winter

Shopping music II

I was just feeling so mellow with that piano music in DJs I went back for some more! And I didn't buy a handbag either. It's a beautiful piano, so today I show you more of it.

Music To Shop By

David Jones Department Store in Sydney employs pianists to serenade shoppers. This elderly couple were enjoying a rest and the music. The piano is in one of my favourite sections - the handbags department! This painist told me she has been working at DJs for 20 years.

Have you come across any musicians in department stores or other unlikely places?

And thanks to the city workers

The success of people-intensive events depends on the hard work of so many behind the scenes workers. This city of Sydney worker was picking up rubish in Hyde Park to keep the area clean for the Catholic World Youth Day revellers.

Today is, apparently Ratcatchers' Day. I hope this young woman doesn't have to deal with any rats!

It's also Pi approximation day in countries that use DD/MM/YY format for dates: 22/7

A le quartorze juillet

OK, yep, I know it was yesterday, but I'm catching up, ok!

There are some not so obvious links to France in Sydney, one of them being what is probably our most well-known fountain, The Archibald in Hyde Park.

It was built in 1932, a gift to the city of Sydney under the terms of the will of a Francophile J F Archibald (in whose name also an annual portrait prize is awarded). As a plaque says, Archibald's intention was to "commemorate the association between Australia and France in The Great War 1914-18" and is the work of French sculptor Francois Sicard.

It depicts a bronze Apollo surrounded by other mythical figures. Horses’ heads, dolphins and tortoises exuberantly spray jets of water.

In the 1880s AF Archibald founded the Bulletin newspaper, famous for encouraging an Australian idiom in Australian writing. But in his own life Archibald was fascinated by all things Parisian. He changed his name from John Feltham to Jules Francois and wore a little French style beard when no one else was wearing them. In donating the Archibald Fountain to the City he imagined its civic design and ornamentation developing to rival the city of his dreaming.

A postcard to the first person who can correctly name the three mythological characters from each of the sculptural groupings shown below!

Sussex St 11.30 pm

Sydney skyline

Looking across The Domain from near the Art Gallery of NSW

Harry's Cafe de Wheels, Haymarket

Not the original at Woolloomooloo, and not on wheels any more, but a Sydney institution nevertheless.
Harry's started as a late night pie cart in 1938, a traditional stop for late night revellers finding their way home, taxi drivers and the like.
By the way, for North American readers, in Australia, "pie" is not synonymous with "sweet". They are most usually savoury, traditionally meat based, though being tri-lingual (we speak and understand Australian, English and American) there is some cross-over these days. My favourite are steak and kidney.

Oops - I think I'm missing some body parts!

Waiting for the Bus

Railway Square

The lovely old building is a former post office, now an apartment hotel. Taken through the glass canopy in Railway Square, a major bus stop on the southern edge of the central business district (CBD).

Also, I'd like to apologise for not getting round to visit as many Theme Day photos as I would have liked. Things have been absolutely mad at work - long days (and into nights). I hope to catch up in the next little while.

Cafe Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie St

On the opposite side of the Hyde Park Barracks compound to yesterday's memorial to the Great Irish Famine, is this delightful Cafe of Plenty.

Macquarie Street, lunchtime

Some people wondered if yesterday's photo was my pool. I wish! No, it's a free, public pool. And I live in far more modest surroundings than this suburb with some of Sydney's highest property prices (start thinking many millions of dollars for an apartment). LOL.

Boats on Little Sirius Cove (Walk Part 2)

Continuing on our walk, looking across Little Sirius Cove to Curraghbeena Point. Look carefully at the right hand side and you can see the apartment block the spider was "attacking" two days ago.

Aerial map: http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/file_download/712/CurlewCampArtistsWalk.pdf

Curlew Camp, Little Sirius Cove (Walk Part 1)

The city, with Robertson's Point (Cremorne Point) and its lighthouse, from Curlew Camp on Little Sirius Cove, Mosman.

Let's take a walk on a beautiful sunny day, from Taronga Zoo Wharf to Cremorne Point, around Little Sirius Cove and Mosman Bay.

You can see a fantastic aerial shot of the route of the walk here: www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/file_download/712/CurlewCampArtistsWalk.pdf
In the 1890s, Curlew Camp was the haunt of artists Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and friends. Heavily influenced by French Impressionism, they set up their easels in the bushland and stayed in a fairly elaborate camp here on the shore of Little Sirius Cove.
Above: Arthur Streeton - Rain Over Sydney Harbour 1893
Above: Arthur Streeton - Sirius Cove about 1895