JetSetWay

Sydney Opera House

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:50:17 +0000

The Sydney Opera House is one of world’s great landmarks to say nothing of it being a great performing hall.

The story behind it is as awesome as the building itself. Originally budgeted to take three years and cost $7MM, it ended up taking 17 years and cost $103MM.

It’s way more than an opera house with 1,500 live performances a year from all of the arts let alone many speaking type engagements.

Jorn Utzon, a 38-year-old Dane was the architect who won the international competition with little more than a design concept. They started building it anyway with not much notion of what the next step would be (very government).

Years later when the government changed he was out as the fall guy for a grossly under budgeted project.

The Sydney press said he was given more than adequate time and budget. Years later, an Oxford Professor wrote an article in the Harvard Design Magazine saying the true loss was that Utzon was not only denied finishing this project but was subsequently denied other opportunities which costs all of us.

I certainly do not have an opinion but can assure you the building is magnificent, but perhaps a bit more control was necessary. Who knows, maybe if they were truthful upfront, it may not have been approved.

Sydney, Australia Flightseeing

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:53:16 +0000

Since we have been here several times, we decided to explore something different and took a seaplane over to Cowan Creek for a wonderful lunch at Cottage Point Inn.

The flightseeing purposely took a circuitous route to allow scenic views of the harbor, beaches, opera house, Sydney Bridge etc.

The pictures aren't great because the day was grey. (What happened to "Never explain, never complainN"?

Newcastle, Australia

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:27:17 +0000

You’ve heard of carrying coals to Newcastle. It means doing something worthless, because Newcastle is loaded with coal so why would they need any more?

Of course that expression derived from Newcastle, England. This Newcastle is the coal center of Australia, which is how it got its name.

Anyway there is only so much coal that you can watch in this unattractive city so we went to a recently closed high security prison, Maitland, down the road a bit.

A former inmate gave us the chilling tour. He confirmed what all of us know regardless of political bent – once you start on the road of crime it is tough to stop. He was cynical of politicians, rich people, homeless and even prisoners themselves.

He feels that convicts do not get reformed and why should they since they can’t get work and are too lazy to work anyway. Besides these days they live better in jail then their families do on the outside.

One thing I did agree with was that juvenile offenders ought to be forced to spend time with older convicts who scare them into shaping up. Social workers just don’t have the respect or proper background and understanding.

We learned a couple easy ways to kill people quickly with just things like toilet paper, toothbrushes, and cigarette filters.

We found a nice spot for a photo op on the way back to the ship.

Noumea, New Caledonia

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:28:14 +0000

Noumea is known as the Paris of the South Pacific. As you might guess it is very French.

Today’s plan was just to veg on one of their beautiful beaches.

Sometimes plans change.

International Date Line

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:48:57 +0000

Reposted from January 30, 2010 blog

Tonight we cross the International Date Line - an imaginary line through the Pacific Ocean roughly corresponding to 180° longitude, to the east of which, by international agreement, the calendar date is one day earlier than to the west.

The concept of an international date line is first mentioned in a 12th century Talmudic commentary.

Magellan had a voyage (1519 – 1522) that circumnavigated the world and returned off a day. It made such a ruckus that the Pope got involved. I guess that they hadn’t read the Talmud.

Lunch On The Crystal Serenity

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:26:45 +0000

Sushi Nazi

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:02:15 +0000

It seems like everybody has seen the hilariously famous Seinfeld episode called the “Soup Nazi”.

Well, Honolulu has its own “Sushi Nazi” in a very renown sushi bar called Sasabune. They have a fixed menu called omakase that just keeps coming course after course until you give up. Kinda like dim sum but you eat what they want you to eat, when they want you to eat it and how they want you to eat it. At the end you pay (lots) by the course.

They will tell you whether and what to use for dipping or not and insist that the sushi is eaten in one bite.

The only redeeming feature for those who don’t like being told what to do, is that the food is outstanding. So much thought goes into what fish (flown in fresh from all over the world daily), paired with what rice, what sauce and what seasoning.

Don’t try ordering a California roll.

They have now expanded to L.A. and NYC.

Maui Whale Watching

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:40:59 +0000

This is the perfect time of year for whale watching in Maui. We opted not to go on a ship’s tour. I found a zodiak to hire that afforded us an opportunity to go faster, farther, and get closer.

The whale here is the North Pacific Humpback which reaches 50 feet and about 75,000 pounds.

It summers in Alaska where the water is right for feeding and in the Fall starts its month or two down to Hawaii where it needs the warmer water for birthing.

Honolulu, 2012

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:24:40 +0000

Tonight we started our evening at The Royal Hawaiian’s Mai Tai Bar. It seems like I was just here a couple weeks ago. Oh, I was. I just never will get my fill of Waikiki.

The beach is so peaceful in the morning just before sunrise and in the evening just after sunset.

Last night we had dinner at Michel’s at the Colony Surf. Many people think it has the best food in Honolulu and maybe the best ambiance of just about any restaurant in the world. It is truly one of the most romantic.

Honolulu Bound

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:25:07 +0000

Visiting with Bruce McGill, a well known character actor.

One of the great things about deluxe cruises is the deluxe group of speakers that are available every sea day. This week has been no exception.

The topics have been all over the board, but the common ingredient has been the pedigree of each speaker. Examples include a:

Former Ambassador to Pakistan
World class historian about tracking Bin Laden
Fascinating world class geography expert
General on leadership
Literary expert on the roots of English novels

And this afternoon a thrilling inside look at Hollywood from Bruce McGill, one of our great character actors who has well over 100 roles under his belt. Lately he has been on Rizzoli and Isles, cable TV’s #1 rated program and just finished Lincoln, a movie out in December by Steven Spielberg.

Plus it is extra fun being able to chat with them like regular folks around the ship.