Day 34: Is the room spinning?

Hello all! I can't decide how this week will play out. Either this week will fly by like the whole trip thus far, or it could be the longest 4 days of my life. Let's hope it'll be a nice mash-up of both options. It seems like we were in Sydney like a year ago (technically it was 2011 but let's ignore my wordplay for a minute) and the rest of the trip has flown by. I've been so blessed to experience everything that I have in these past four and some-odd weeks and I'll have memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. I encourage anyone that needs a change of pace and scenery in their life, travel to Australia or New Zealand for a few weeks. It's the best medicine that someone could ever give you. Just make sure you bring sunscreen and have a few bucks saved up. That's enough of all that sentimental junk, let me give you an update about today.

Today we were fortunate enough to go on a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House which was fascinating. Construction began in 1959 and didn't finish until 1973. It was designed by a Danish architect named Jorn Utzon, who actually didn't see the finished structure due to continued arguments between the owners and himself. It was an impressive display of concrete and the curved shell pieces used for the roof were so interesting. We were shown a variety of auditoriums and stages where all kind of performances are held yearly. We felt very touristy because we had to walk around with headphones that it made it easier to hear the tour guide with. Functional but very goofy looking. Here's a few pictures:

These were referred to as ribs 

Observatory area

The shell segments are a self-cleaning material that changes color depending on the viewing angle and the sunlight exposure.

After our tour, the ENVD students bought a few souvenirs and headed back to the dorm to do a little laundry and start getting ready for our evening on the town with our group and Meghan's mom, who just flew into Sydney a couple days before we had gotten there. She took us to the Blu Bar, a ritzy bar on the 36th floor of the Shangri-La hotel. I wanted to try this drink but I don't think my dad would have liked to see this charge on the credit card:

Just a $10,000 AUD martini. Diamond included of course. We settled on the $420 "Classic Moment for Two." Not.

After our quick pre-dinner drink we hopped a cab over to the famous 360 Bar and Restaurant in the heart of Sydney, overlooking the sunset of all of Sydney. It was amazing. The neat thing about the restaurant was that the floor was constantly spinning in a circle to have a complete view of the city. It was spinning very slowly of course otherwise most people wouldn't be able to enjoy their dinner for very long after eating it. They told us it makes a full rotation every hour. So cool. The food was out of this world. I had one of the best steaks I've ever eaten in my life. I wish I had some better pictures but the majority of the ones the waiter took were blurry. You'll just have to take my word for it when I say the view was incredible.

Well after a fun night and a full stomach I'm going to call it a night. Thanks for reading! War Eagle!