Sydney Opera House Open Day 2010

I should do a long entry today, but it's two different things so I thought I should do two posts instead so the title doesn't get too long. I'll try the other entry soon when I have more time in my hands!

So, it was the annual Sydney Opera House Open Day on Sunday (24 October 2010)! Well, the main point is, entry was free! It's a good deal for students like us, with huge temptation to buy tickets to watch a musical or dance just to go into Opera House. I mean, it's iconic in Sydney! When I got the mailer, I immediately booked five tickets not knowing if anyone was interested to go. Five was the maximum, but I didn't get to utilise my tickets at all. This is like the last week of uni, so there're assignments due and friends didn't have time to go :( But nonetheless, I tagged along with another group of friends who had 5 tickets too!

To be honest, we didn't need the tickets at all. I'm not sure if it was the bad weather or they just don't check, we didn't actually need tickets and I secretly managed to cut the line to get to the front where my friends were. I know, I'm a bad kid.

The Merry Widow. She's the only one I'm familiar with, because my senior band played this piece for their Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) during their year! They clinched a Gold with Honours with it :D I've always liked that piece, how merry it sounds at the beginning, even though the title may beg to differ (widow?). The mannequin is dressed so nicely I reckon.

Exactly how the real Merry Widow looks like. Wait, actually I'm not sure if she's the real Merry Widow.

The next one in black is modelled on La Traviata. I haven't heard of this piece before, but I should check it out. The composer is Giuseppe Verdi, I might have played one of his pieces before.. Hmm..

We moved onto the next theatre. I think there are three main halls -- Drama, Opera and Concert. In this, they had a guy opera soloist to sing for us. That's the banner they had for this year's Open Day.

Moving on, we just followed the crowd and headed outdoors. The opera house had a very good view of the entire bridge, but of course I needed to take a photo :D I wish I was on the other side in North Sydney though, then I can take a nice shot of the opera house.

Finally, in the concert hall. I wasn't very amazed by this concert hall when I first entered. Maybe it was the wrong atmosphere. Nevertheless, it reminds me of my time on stage with my band at Singapore Esplanade. I would definitely love to perform in the Sydney Opera House if I ever get a chance :D The concert organ, so marvelous. The sound was awesome too!

There, there was a guy playing on the concert organ for us! It was really wow, because there were five keyboards! It must be an awesome feeling to be playing on this set of organ right in the opera house. Well, it makes a difference if you're playing up so high!

The view I'll get if I ever get a chance to perform in the Opera House. The only con about being there that day, I didn't get the feeling I was hoping for :( There were just too many people and people were taking photos of themselves on the stage. Well, I know I know what a rare chance to be on the concert hall of the Opera House.

Then moving on, we watched a little of aerobics too! I never knew there was an "arena" like place in the Opera House for "circus" performance. I can't remember what this group was called, but they were really amazing. There was a lady who looked like she was three times my age, swinging on one of those hoops! What strong muscles she's got really. I think hanging myself on the poles using my arms would be such a big feat for me.

I reckon, it'll be a good experience to visit the Opera House when it's free. But to indulge in a full experience, I would definitely have to buy tickets to a show. The free visit just wasn't enough, I'm not contented. But Opera House is definitely convenient, it's near Circular Quay. Just that, if you're running late for a concert, it might be a little tiring for a speed walk :P That's all folks, I'll be back with what I had for dinner on the same day!

Kura Japanese Dining

Been there, done that on 31 July 2010.

Having heard about Kura many times, we just had to set a date for the meal! Being students on budget, we always make it a point to go for a really good meal at the end of each month or.. whenever we visit an event together. Maybe we sound a little weird and absurd, but we always try to make it a point to do up a schedule so we fully utilise our time to explore what this city brings us :)

There was an event in the morning at Carriageworks, Eveleigh, my friend had asked me to go with her. It was a clothes-swapping event, where you'll bring clothes which you'll never ever wear again -- of course the clothes has to be in good condition. I had such a hard time thinking of what I was gonna bring, so I brought along this red beret that I rarely wear. I had second thoughts on the way there, since it was my only red beret that I bought in Singapore and I've only worn a couple of times. But, I swapped it away for a pair of felted shorts anyway. It was so dark in Carriageworks that I mistook the colour of the shorts as black when it was army green. My friends then concluded I was colour blind, sigh.

It was my first time at Carriageworks, I was really amazed at the infrastructure. To my surprise, there were heaps of people who were equally excited about the event as my friend, there was actually a line to get into the hall.

People actually came really prepared to swap away their pre-loved clothings and some even came in bags! To think I only brought one beret for the swap and my friend brought 4 pieces. One of the terms&conditions for the swap was that, you can't be emotionally attached to the item you're swapping away. This just tells me that I'm not suitable for such events at all, I'm super emotionally attached to everything I own that I'll get really upset over it missing/gone. It actually happened to one of my favourite rings! But not so much for this beret though!

After a very hectic and messy morning at Carriageworks, it was time for lunch at Kura! We walked all the way through uni, then Broadway and finally reached Haymarket.

Kura
3/76 Ultimo Rd
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Australia

There were many items to choose from, but the three of us chose dons because we were craving for Jappy rice! Of course a weird habit of mine, prior to visiting a place I'll definitely do my research, read reviews online to see what are the should and should nots. Definitely we need cash for Kura dine in, because they don't take cards or eftpos. It's a pretty small place, really really crowded, not a place for small talks and chill outs.

Forgive me, I honestly can't remember what we ordered but I knew what we had was really good.

Below was what I ordered. It wasn't too pricey, but the greens were a little too dry for my liking. I'm not an avid fan of salad, so anything that's raw and dry wouldn't be pleasant for me. Nevertheless, the meat (I think it was pork) for my don was really juicy and the sauce was good!

Obviously, my friend ordered something with tamago. I vaguely remember that she'll always order katsu don whenever she visits a Jap restaurant, so I guess that must be what she had. It wasn't like a huge portion, but it came with a bowl of miso soup.

After our lunch, we made our way to the State Library for an exhibition only to realise that we made a mistake in the venue. The girls wanted to visit some abstract exhibition, but we found out that it was at somewhere else instead and we actually wasted a trip to the state library! We could only blame it on us having no internet at home (because of some major screw up with our bills, our landline got disconnected and that affected our internet as well, sigh). We loitered around the State Library and applied for membership so we could use the internet, hahaha hey it's typical of students! They had lockers which were a little automated, but you didn't need keys for them. All locked and done by the machine, and it was freeeee!

There were all these alphabets on the wall. Initially I thought it was a little fascinating from afar...

Then I realised, it just spells alphabets using other icons or pictures. Maybe I can't appreciate these, but they looked pretty normal to me :S

Another good experience! I wish I had more time for such leisure around this beautiful and exciting city :) Lunch was definitely good for a quick meal, but definitely not for ambience and chillax. Will definitely visit Kura again if I need a quick Jappy fix.