Vivid Sydney

We had to fly down to Sydney to get U.S. passports renewed for Cole and Cora.  The original plan was to take a train down, which sounds like fun, but upon doing the math (two nights in a hotel, being trapped in a seat for 12 hours, Cora's constant battle with motion sickness) we decided flying was the better option.

As it turns out, Cora only dealt with the motion sickness on the way there and after she used the bag, she was in a much better mood.  I don't know how that works but I am happy it didn't last the entire flight.

We spent Sunday at the Taronga Zoo and I tried to spend as much time as possible by the giraffe enclosure.  The kids treated the zoo like most other things in their life: bored with what is in front of them and pining for some other animal they haven't seen yet.  There has to be a reason more time at the zoo was spent walking between exhibits than actually observing.

After a full day, the kids were exhausted.  Our original plan was to rest in the afternoon and go back out that night with the family, but after dinner, the Cole and Cora were content to sit on the bed and relax.

Gabe had not slept much during the day and was a tired little pineapple.  Mary took one for the team and stayed home while I went back to Circular Quay to view Vivid Sydney.

I had not heard of the festival before.  One of my clients is a sculptor who creates large public art installations that require structural engineering.  He came up with the concept of suspending a "notebook" off a building and coating it with photoluminescent paint.  He then created a giant pencil with a laser on the end of it and fabricated it in Aluminum (Aluminium for those who refuse to acknowledge Humphry Davy's intentions).  We provided engineering for the base and suspending the canvas from the building.

The festival starts at six o'clock in the evening and lasts until June 13.  Various buildings around town are lit up with special lighting and animated light projections.  Most notably, the Opera House

And my favorite was the Customs House:

The photos are not impressive because they were taken with my iPhone and I didn't take a tripod.  Both the Opera House and Customs House were animated; the images were changing and evolving and the artists were able to change my perception of the building's form.  The Customs House installation succeeded on another level because they were able to tell a story.  They transformed the façade with decorations from several eras and then showed each style forming cracks and crumbling away to reveal the next.

After walking around around in the cold for hours, I was in search of a warm beverage and I came upon GuyLian, a chocolate utopia.

If you find yourself in The Rocks in Sydney, I recommend stopping by.  I enjoyed it so much, I took Mary and the kids there the next day for a waffle.

If you look closely you notice that it is served with a bowl of melted chocolate, whipped cream and praline ice cream.  This was later revealed as a bad decision when we were waiting at the airport for two hours and the kids were yelling and running through the departure lounge like hyenas on crystal meth.

Prior to that, we walked around the Chinese Garden and took the ferry to see the harbour.  It was a successful trip and when our passports arrive in the mail we will be all set for our journey back to Wisconsin in a few months.