My 30th Birthday in Sydney

I'm not sure any other birthday for the rest of my life will ever top this one. I mean, really. Whose life is this anyway? In my wildest dreams I don't think I could have conjured this up. You'd think that I purposely planned a business trip around my birthday and being almost 7 months pregnant so I would need to take BD with me to carry my bags. Wait. Never mind. The travel gods were smiling on us that particular day because we landed at 6:00 am in the morning and were able to immediately check into our hotel near Circular Quay.

That day we embarked on a High Tea cruise of the Sydney Harbor and took in the sweeping views of the Harbor Bridge, Opera House and beautiful beaches. I was thrilled to find that being on a boat wasn't causing any seasickness - good news indeed, considering the last half of our time in Oz was to be spent on the water. We were immediately struck with the beauty of the city and I kept thinking, for heavens sake, I could surely live here. BD wasn't keen to push our agenda too hard that day, so he reserved some time for an afternoon nap, making sure I was well rested before he disclosed our surprise evening plans.

 

He treated me to a way too fancy dinner at Aria, with panoramic views of the harbor overlooking the Opera House. I ordered the salmon and when it was unexpectedly served raw BD didn't even flinch and switched me for his pork belly roast. Erykah Badu was performing at the Opera House that night and we watched couples in high-heels and tuxedo tails spill out of taxi cab after taxi cab below us. We spent the rest of the evening outside, hand in hand, walking along the edge of the harbor, and so on. One of the most romantic moments of my life that I'll never forget. Little Bee and I felt spoiled from head to toe. It was the most perfect - with a cherry on top - kind of birthday. In fact, I think I'll go ahead and turn 30 again next year because it was so much fun.

 

 

We spent most of the following day at Manly Beach watching the surfers and exploring as much of Sydney as possible. BD even humored me with a pit stop into a grocery store, knowing how much I adore exploring international grocery stores. It was clear that we needed about 2 more weeks in Sydney to see and do everything we had hoped. I also ate the best salad of my whole life at a little place called Fish Mongers near Manly Beach, that we happened into for lunch. It might just be the pregnancy talking, but honestly I would give anything to eat that salad again. Anything.

Sydney, Australia (February 19-21, 2012)

xoxo