Miles flown so far: 16,265
Sydney is a sprawling, complex city. It is much more beautiful than Melbourne, and certainly has more glitz, but it also seems harder to get to know, especially without a car. We stayed downtown so we had an easy walk to the major sites and some good (if insanely expensive) restaurants, but did not get much of a chance to explore the inner suburbs, where some of the hidden gems of food, shopping, etc. lay in wait. For sheer glimmering Australian vistas, however, Sydney did not disappoint. The from the harbor, the opera house, and the Harbor Bridge, to the the botanical gardens, quaint yet slightly rundown Victorian neighborhoods and modernist apartment buildings spilling down cliffs toward the sea-- this city is gorgeous.
An odd apartment complex overlooking the harbor. The Australian answer to Britain's somewhat depressing but unusually fascinating 70's welfare state architecture. It seemed totally out of place in this subtropical paradise of a city.
Thousands of Flying Foxes (bats) live in the Royal Botanical Gardens. They are huge and loud and a bit intimidating.
Here they hang above an unsuspecting tourist.
The Asian cuisines of Sydney seem to be its highlight. These Malaysian beef and chicken dishes from The Malaya were a satisfying lunch one hot day.
Tucked away on Liverpool Street in the old Victorian neighborhood of Darlinghurst is Bill's-- the site of another great lunch.
I had the breaded chicken schnitzel with slaw.
For dinner that same night we ate at another Darlinghurst spot, A Tavola. I had the insalata di acciuglie, finocclino e asparagi (salad with greens, white anchovies and asparagus) and the pappardelle con ragusa d'agnello (hand cut pasta with lamb ragu). Both were totally delightful, and I loved the interior of the place: long communal marble table with bar facing out toward the room but tucked away to the side, good lighting, and a simple color scheme.
Here is the freshly made pasta hanging near the kitchen.
We had another tasty lunch at Spice Temple in the central business district. Above is the chicken salad, the fried silken tofu, and the spicy pork. The food was very good, but as a general rule I think Australians could use a bit more restraint when it comes to restaurant design. Many places we ate were so over designed, with such elaborate menu philosophies and high concept names that at times establishments with perfectly decent food seemed dated and heavy handed. All the best meals we had in Australia consisted of fresh ingredients, sophisticated but direct menus, and simple, elegant decor. A lesson to keep in mind for
all interiors, and one that I have had drilled into my head by eating at so many overwrought dining spots over the last three weeks.
Also, on our last day in the city, I visited the New South Wales Gallery and saw artist Tazu Nishi's installation piece War and Peace and in Between. He constructed rooms around the large bronze statues that flank the museum's entrance, creating an amazing contrast of scale and spacial hierarchy that was just fantastic.
We leave Sydney tomorrow for New Zealand and the countryside, and I am ready!
I have been to Miami several times but never managed, until this last trip, to make it to Vizcaya. This home, which is now a county museum, is one of the country's most impressive examples of late gilded age residential architecture, landscape and interior design. It has caught my imagination ever since seeing it as the credits role in the last scene of one of my favorite movies, The Money Pit.
Vizcaya was built as a winter home for Chicago industrialist James Deering between 1910-1916. Architect F. Burral Hoffman and landscape architect Diego Suarez worked with (some would say under) the villa's interior architect and strongest personality, Paul Chalfin. Chalfin was a protege of the famous Elsie de Wolfe (who decorated Deering's Chicago townhouse) and Vizcaya was essentially his only project.
The home was designed to look as though it had been sited on it's bay side location for 400 years. Antique construction materials, mature landscaping and an eclectic selection of furnishings and art objects from the 15th-19th centuries lends to this feeling. Above, is the Cathay bedroom, one of eight variously themed guest suites, and meant to evoke a Venetian "dream of a Chinese boudoir." Other guest bedrooms include the Manin, named for the last president of the Venetian republic and decorated in the Biedermeier style; the Espagnolette, a Venetian interpretation of the French rococo; and the Galleon, furnished in the style of 18th century Pisa. Chalfin had quite an imagination and a flair for history.
My favorite room in the entire house is the master bathroom. A mix of marbles and bronze, with a draped linen ceiling, the room is located at the heart of the house and faces out to Biscayne Bay. The sun reflects off the water and makes this room one of the most pleasant bathrooms I have ever seen. The taller object at the window is Deering's shaving stand, an ingenious design which allowed him to stand while shaving and while looking out at the bay each morning. Also, the tub was piped for both fresh and salt water. A nice touch.
Out on the bay, the ruins of the stone pleasure barge, which was once covered in lush greenery and had a pavilion for candle lit dinner parties. Amazing.
Diego Suarez's gardens go on and on... impressive considering more than half the grounds are now gone, sold off and developed by Dade County.
The best garden moment is the Casino, which once faced out to vast naturally landscaped water gardens.
Most of the water gardens were sold off, filled in and developed in the 1940's, so the pavilion's full effect has been destroyed. Below, an old photo shows the Casino (located between the white bridge and the main house) as it was meant to be sited, with the water gardens in the foreground.
One of the garden's grottoes.
Historical and interior images via the Vizcaya website
