Nicole Kidman is awesome

Well, today is the first day of the Sydney Summer Festival, a month-long event with music, dance, art installations, theatre, etc. This first night includes dozens of events, all free to the public, so we are meeting some of Chris's co-workers at 7:00 to hit the town. We decide to go swimming for the second time, and I am reminded of how boring laps can be. Even after only 4 lengths of the pool, I'm pissed off and feeling sorry for myself. Swimming sucks (sorry Diane - I know you hate that word). Afterwards, Chris is feeling like he might be getting swimmer's ear, so he goes in search of a pharmacy while I take a nap. I am SO tired today! Since we haven't really wandered around the Botanic Gardens except for a short run the other morning (and shuffling anywhere at 6:45 a.m. removes your desire to look anywhere but at the ground) we decide to see them at a more pleasant hour. For the first time, I see the Opera House up close! It really is a magnificent piece of architecture, but the exterior seems sort of... dirty. I rub my fingers over the diamond-shaped tiles to see if they are grimy, but then, the sun comes out! The entire sweeping section in front of me sparkles and is the most brilliant, bright white. So that's the secret. Those little tiles love the sun. The gardens are so beautiful - rose gardens, fragrant herb gardens, a tropical garden, the list goes on and on. And the gum trees are gigantic.They look like they are straight out of Lord of the Rings. We look hard for the infamous bats (they are supposedly the size of small dogs) that nest in the trees, but don't see any. We start walking through the Domain and hit the tip of Hyde Park, where the traffic lanes have been shut down to make room for the thousands of people descending upon the city. Brian Wilson is one of the opening acts and for some reason, everyone loves him here. People are also obsessed with Nicole Kidman, who is featured almost daily on the Australia version of the Today Show. "Nicole this, Nicole that, Nicole is on the best-dressed list of celebrities, Nicole went out to dinner, Nicole is having a baby!!" etc. etc. They can't get enough of her. We stop to get some cash out from Citibank (surprise) and then walk to Bar 333 to meet Chris's co-worker, Josh. The bar is completely packed! People are spilling out into the streets and you can sense a raucous party gearing up. We head into the laneways (ie. alleys) where there are DJs, breakdancing, krumping, and beatbox competitions all over the place. The whole area is jammed with people. Now, this normally isn't my scene (nor Chris's) but it was pretty cool to be right in the middle of all the action. We head to another bar (again, packed) with our friends and then onto Hyde Park where we catch the end of a The Spanish Harlem Orchestra - now they were amazing.