Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Top of the morn' to all!!! Right now, it is almost 9:30 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day here (you all are just getting ready for work as would be 6:30 a.m. your time on the 17th). No celebration here to speak of....in fact, no celebration here! What's that all about??!!

The opera last night was cool although Joey maybe was right...I should have gone to Lady Gaga. Shakespeare's play was set in India and the costumes were fantastic. Although they sang English, it was Shakespeare's English so I had to read a lot of subtitles to know what they were saying. The last act was the best and there was a lot of silliness in the end...reminding you of a Gilbert and Sullivan production. Still how many people can say they went to an opera at the Sydney Opera House. Simultaneously, we were in the Opera House, Raveshankar was playing in the concert hall and there was a rock concert going on the steps outside. So it was really a happening place. And to see everything lit up at night was surreal.

Today we were on the road again and flew to Melbourne. Going with Qantas is great again. Although it was only a short flight, because we were a group booking through Qantas, your bags just go in as a group(not each of us individually) and they just pass out your boarding passes....you wait in no lines!!!

In Melbourne, we went to their Skydeck to get a view and learn the layout of this planned city of 3.5 million. It has the largest concentration of Greeks outside of Greece, and it is Australia's second largest city. Lots of trains were going in and out during rush hour and saw at least 5 crew boats practicing on the Yarra River. This is the city that looks most like any other city back home with highways and larger houses in their suburb areas.

We saw the courts where they play the Australia Open and went to their Shrine of Remembrance, their war memorial. What is cool about this memorial is that in its center they have a memorial stone with the words carved "Greater love no man has than to lay his life down for his friend" There is an opening in the roof that is just opened once a year on November 11 at ten minutes to 11th hour. When the 11th hour hits, the sun shines just totally over the word "love" and then immediately fades....they figured this out mathmatically and it will happen for at least the next 5,00 years. They simulated it today for our group so it was really impressive.

I haven't been slacking on the pictures...it is just hard to get to an internet. Our hotel would let me through only on their computers...and some places do not access for sd cards. So tonight I will try to post some additional shots not only on today's post but on earlier posts.

Take care and keep me posted on what's going on the homefront.

Stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria