Cliff's Notes - On Travel

     For my first full day in Sydney I had to get closer to the infamous Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Easily one of the most recognizable structures in the world, it felt somewhat surreal to be right in front of it!     I got an early start around 8 am. It was cloudy but still warm (75 degrees) out and it is a bit more humid today than yesterday. To get to the Opera House, I walked through the Botanical Gardens. Beautiful grounds and park! Since it's so close, I'll be walking through there every day most likely and that is just fine by me! I'll save those photos for a later post.     Of course the bridge itself is rather iconic. Every New Year's Eve, Sydney is the first large city to ring in the New Year. I'm sure most people have watched the Sydney fireworks from that bridge on TV. And it's huge!    This is by far the greatest time difference I've ever experienced and I'm definitely feeling the jet lag. It was a ni...

      So this one feels particularly good. I keep a running "bucket list" of countries I want to visit. Lately, I've been able to knock off quite a few. Today, I finally get to cross of that one that's been sitting on top of the list forever: Australia!! I arrived in Sydney, Australia this morning around 8:30 am local time and I took the 15 hour flight despite not getting Delta One/First Class. I just knew I had to get here, and I actually slept quite a bit and had a pleasant ride in our second class cabin.  It's summer here but the weather is great! Mid to high 70s with a little cloud cover and a breeze, not too humid at all. Australia is easily a place an American or other English speaking bloke can get off the plane and feel at ease instantly.  Super easy to get around, communicate, etc. The trains here in Sydney are fantastic! Love me a good underground/metro system!! MIND THE GAP!!!! It was definitely a journey to get here and I literally lost a day i...

   Today was definitely the most productive and fun day of my trip so far! I started out with a great breakfast at my new (and last) hotel here, walked around another park, then made my way to Beco de Batman and the Museo de Futebol. I took a TON of pictures today and it's very difficult to pick out the top ones, even with adding more to this post than I normally do.    Beco de Batman translates to "Batman's Alley" and is an area known for it's intricate graffiti and street art. The murals were fantastic! I'm not sure if the pictures do them justice, but it was a lot of fun to walk around and take it all in. It was 90 degrees and humid today, but I couldn't let that stop me!     The Futebol (soccer) Museum is actually inside of an old, historic stadium. Most of the exhibits were only in Portuguese, but I was able to get the general gist of some things and use a translator for others. The beautiful game, as it is known, is of course the most popular spo...

    Yesterday was a very quiet day for me and the city in general. In most cities with a strong religious presence/history, a lot of places are closed on Sundays including restaurants & markets. I did decide to change hotels and unfortunately I did not do any research on the area beforehand. I somehow ended up in an area that locals refer to as "cracklandia." You can imagine why, and I can attest to why.    For those two reasons, I only went out once to get drinks and snacks. I will be changing hotels again today for my last few nights here. I did get out today once already to see some more sites, including the famous Market Municipal Paulistano. I love visiting markets in international cities to see the variety of produce, meat, and other foods they have to offer. As you can see from the pictures below, this was a good sized market with an amazing selection of fruit.    As far as food goes, the most popular items here are pastels (friend pastries) with...

  For my first full day in Sao Paulo, I mostly walked around and explored the area more without any real agenda. I went by the Pinocoteca (Brazilian art museum) and the surrounding Parque Jardim de Luz. I gotta say, the highlight of my day was finding an outdoor gym with equipment made out of stones and cement. I was pretty shocked when I saw it, but since I was in shorts and a tank top and hadn't worked out for a couple days, I got a nice little workout in! I will definitely be back tomorrow as well.   It smells SOOOOO good when walking around. I have yet to indulge in any real local foods, but I will tomorrow. I have some good recommendations from a couple of friends who have been here. Everything is very cheap here and the people are friendly.    There are quite a bit of homeless and I've been warned multiple times to be vigilant, not have my phone out constantly, etc. I knew coming here that it was a place to exercise much more caution than most places I've visit...