Off to Leura

We will be out of touch for a couple days. Once Mark and Alan return from delivering the Meals on Wheels, we are loading up the car and heading off to the town of Leura in the Blue Mountains. I don't know a thing about the Blue Mountains, but from what little I've seen online, it's going to be beautiful. Chilly .... but beautiful!

Ever since we arrived, Molly has been telling us that Tuesday we would be taking Ariel and Lily to see some sort of flower thing based on a book and then she mentioned the name David Jones. I just assumed David Jones (OK, all you Aussies, laugh it up!) was the author and that it was going to be some kind of floral display at the botanical gardens or something. So we gathered up Lily and Ariel from their respective schools, dropped off Alan's tennis gear at the club, and then trekked to the train station. The kids were great and loved the train and the escalators.

Once in downtown Sydney (my first day in the city proper since we got here), we walked a couple blocks toward a park, which is where I assumed we were going.

I was wrong. Apparently David Jones is like the Nordstrom's or Nieman Marcus of Sydney. Or perhaps comparing it to New York City's Macy's would be more appropriate in this case. Like Macy's, David Jones has beautiful window displays. Their spring theme was tons of fresh flowers adorning scenes out of a book called Animalia by Graeme Base. Each window, like each page in the book, was based on a different letter (P for penguin, L for ladybug). It really was beautiful, but not at all what I was expecting!


I had actually been to David Jones nearly 8 years ago when we were here for Christmas/the Millennium. I remember walking and hearing all the Christmas carols and getting all misty-eyed and nostalgic for home. Now this time, as we were taking pictures of Ariel and Lily in front of a giraffe, a man sat down at the piano and played Grandpa's version of "Tara's Theme" (which is actually "Lara's Theme" from Dr. Zhivago; not "Tara's Theme" from Gone with the Wind). So there I was, standing in David Jones, getting all misty eyed again.

After we made it all the way around the store, attempting to spot the little dragon in each display, Sharon showed up--just in time to take Lily to the little girls' room! We then went off in search of hot chocolate for the kids and a coffee for each of us. Turns out that this was no mean feat. The first place (our original goal) was the Lindt chocolate store. Unfortunately they were closed for a special occasion. So we lugged the kids across the street to another coffee lounge, but this one wouldn't let us sit inside because they were mopping the floor, and it was too cold to sit outside (not to mention the fact that (1) there were no tables and (2) all the tables were filled with businesspeople in suits and ties looking none too thrilled when we all showed up). So then we trekked back down the street to another very posh-looking coffee shop. Apparently they were closing up, but the guy was super nice and let us sip our coffee while he cleaned up. Even gave us a croissant for free! (I guess they were just going to throw them out anyway, but still very nice.)

So, now here I am. Finishing up some work and getting ready to go celebrate Rosh Hashanah in the Blue Mountains.

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Mark and Tara