Tues, July 2

We drove into downtown in the morning to have brunch with Asabi Goodman. She is in town playing Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago the Musical. We last crossed paths with her when the touring company of Hairspray passed through Omaha last year.

After brunch we walked to the Australian Museum whose collection of taxidermied/reconstructed animals has seen better days, but whose mineral and gem collection rivals that of the American Museum of Natural History. As in Auckland, most of the indigenous artifacts were made in the past 100 years, because they are biodegradable!

After a snack at the museum, Jessie and I parted ways again so she could go to the New South Wales Art Gallery and I could see the Royal Botanical Garden Sydney before it closed at 5pm (winter hours). The botanical garden is enormous, and I'm sure I only saw half of it, but I enjoyed seeing the massive, mature trees. Jessie again made a point to see indigenous and Australian art due to limited time. She also happened upon a Hayou Kusama piece that was in a sculpture garden — a highlight for her as she teaches clients about her, as Kusama has schizophrenia and is a very successful artist.

We met up at the Sydney Opera House at dusk for a stroll around before finding an Italian restaurant near where our car was parked. Italian food always reminds us of our honeymoon! The restaurant had top notch tiramisu, something we always look for, nearly as good at that at Caffe Duomo in Florence.