Our hotel is plop in the middle of the part of Sydney called The Rocks set right on the water at Sydney Harbor, next to Circular Quay, a key transport hub with ferry wharves, bus stops and a train station. Almost every building is a store, restaurant, hotel or pub with a few museums and churches mixed in, with the Harbor Bridge behind us and the Sydney Opera House on the far side of the Quay (which, strangely, is pronounced ‘key’).
On weekends the Rocks Marketplace, somewhat similar to the arts and wine festivals so popular in Silicon Valley, takes over a long block just below the bridge. Friday nights are the Markets by Moonlight, with food stalls added to the normal vendors and live musical acts, so we had our Friday dinner there examining the merchandise and getting some hot food. Nothing too exciting though one of the performers was the once-hot ’80s band Pseudo Echo. Our room directly overlooks the stage so we had no trouble listening in even after we came back here.
Star City, a huge casino/hotel complex in Darling Harbor, was on TS1’s must see list so we went over yesterday about lunchtime. A little slots for her and blackjack for me, then a bite to eat, and back to the tables for the rest. In the end we left about $30 with the house, not bad for about five hours each gambling.
The casino is a decent one, not as noisy as most I’m familiar with in Vegas but also no smoking anywhere inside, which is much nicer than Vegas where somehow the casino bosses seem to think having a table be non-smoking even if those to either side are full of smokers is good enough.
A few other differences from American blackjack that I didn’t find as nice: Other bettors can bet on your hand, either people who can’t get a seat at the table or others who want more than one hand going at a time. Only hard 9, 10 or 11 dealt hands can be doubled down. You can only split once–that is, if you get a pair of eights, split them and then get a third eight you can’t split again. Finally, a side bet called Perfect Pairs can be made on each hand, paying 5-, 15- or 30-1 for a pair of different colors ,the same color or the same suit, respectively, and again anyone can place this bet on any dealt hand.
For dinner we took a walk around Circular Quay to check out the restaurants right on the water. There are quite a few, all with tables out on the plaza under umbrellas. We ate at a Chinese place called The East, food was okay, service not quite up to the prices.
Today is our last full day of vacation. Sad, very sad, eh? No more g’days or good on ya, mates. Maybe we can start a new trend in the Bay Area of using those greetings.
BillSaysThis 