An action packed Saturday!

So yesterday, Saturday, I was very busy! In the morning I went to the beach for a few minutes to read and relax. After I met Gardi, my South African friend, for an afternoon of fun and adventure in Sydney. It was a blast! First we went to a new cafe in Bondi Junction, Paleo Cafe, after Gardi had heard multiple good review. We went not impressed. There was a creamy coconut chicken on the menu which both of thought sounded delicious - we were envisioning something Thai-like. The sauce was nothing like what either of us was expecting and on top of that chicken was dry. I did bring it up to the server but his response was "the chicken shouldn't be dry." Neither of us were impressed with that response. We had a fun time anyways though laughing about the food and the server (who was trying desperately to chat with us about anything and everything but lost all chances after telling us the chicken wasn't dry). I wouldn't go back for the food but the company was good.

After lunch we headed into the city to go to the Yoko Ono exhibit War is Over at the Museum of Contemporary Art. On the way I ran across the city's christmas tree again, this time in full lights. Here's a photo:

So we went to the art exhibit and it was rather interesting. It was very interactive which was cool. It's nice to go to an art museum where it's not all stuffy and quite and pretentious. Apparently this is a one-off exhibit. I assumed it was traveling to other cities but it's only showing here in Sydney. Pretty cool! Inside the exhibit it a small maze of glass walls and mirrors. Inside the maze is a phone that Yoko Ono will call at various times throughout the exhibit. She didn't call when Gardi and I were in the maze but we were considering making an outbound call on the phone.

Another thing in the exhibit was a wall of maps where you could stamp "Imagine Peace" in multiple languages. I don't think everyone understood the exhibit the same way because lots of people stamped on very peaceful places like Australia. I think they were trying to show where they were from. I interpreted it as stamping where I want to see peace so I chose Washington D.C. - there weren't very many maps of the Middle East that were easy to reach. Here's a photo fo me stamping:

Here's a few other photos from the exhibit:

People playing chess. The chess boards are all white as are the pieces so as you continue to play it becomes increasingly harder to distinguish your pieces from your opponents.

Casts of legs. They looked really realistic and pretty creepy.

After we left the museum we walked around the harbor a bit and then had coffee at a cute like French cafe. Here's a quick video tour of the harbor.

Last night, Kelsey and I went to a santa show in Darling Harbor called Santa Fest. It was a big water/fireworks/music show with hundreds of Santas. Here's a few picks:

Santa coming in on his "sleigh," a.k.a. a jet ski.

After the show we met up with an old friend on mine from high school for a minute and then Kelsey and I spent some time out on the harbor.

In other news, Australia beat New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup last night. It was quite a big deal here. The game didn't even start until 1:30am and everyone (except me) stayed up to watch it. I was too tired.

That's all for yesterday. It's a beautiful morning and I'm about to head to the beach for the day. We may be going to a show tonight at the Opera House if we can get good tickets. Otherwise, we're just chillin around Bondi.

Best!