Friday, September 11, 2009

I made it!

Hello all! Greetings from Down Under! It is Friday, September 11th. Thursday, September 10th will never exist in my personal history. Interesting, that. Had two very long flights from Atlanta to LA, and from LA to Sydney. I was stuck in a center seat for the leg of the first part, and then I was on an aisle in the center section for the 18 hours it took to get to Sydney. Long time to be stuck in a can with a bunch of strangers. Now I know what sardines feel like.

Princess Cruise lines showed us how welcome we were by having us wait over an hour for the shuttle to come pick us up from that airport. I must be honest, looking over the documents we had to fill out for customs and immigration, I was a bit worried about whether or not they would let me into their country. With the amount of medicines I was bringing in, I bet my luggage looked like a pharmacy. No worries, though, we flew through customs, and I am now officially allowed into the country. Whew!

Sydney is a gorgeous city! We had a bit of chill in the air as we arrived, but by the late morning, it had settled into about 75 degrees. Nice and sunny, too. The lot of us had lunch, then took the train into Sydney, as the hotel is out by the airport. We stopped at Woolworths to get our toiletries for the ship, and I stopped to see if they had any Maynards Wine Gums... they didn't. So I bought Smarties instead. The British kind, not american. They are like our M&M's only better. The candy shell is thicker, and the chocolate is sometimes flavoured with orange.

I have taken tons of pictures, and hope to post them soon. We all saw the Opera House, the Bridge, the Rocks... all of this is stuff you must see when you get to Sydney, apparently. The opera House is spectacular. Thought about going to see Aida there tonight, but it was sold out, not to mention expensive. Tried to go see the final preview performance of Wicked also, but got to the box office a half hour after they had sold the last ticket. Went to see Avenue Q, but decided to save the money and head back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep.

Wow. I really don't know where to begin. Tomorrow it will all change. Sightseeing is over for a while, as we go immediately into rehearsals again, and costume fittings. No show until Monday night, when we will be doing Save The Last Dance... a good one, as I actually know 99% of the words! And, I am fluent in making them up if I don't know them, as evident from the presentation this past Monday.

I miss everyone, and wish you all could have been there to experience Sydney with me for the first time. Peggy, Michael, Mom, Dad, Gaby, Amy, Bill, Curt, Mary, the girls, Hamlet, Gregory, Othello, Kelly... everyone. You would really love it here. More later. My time is wearing out on this computer. If I want to publish this, I need to get going.

Talk again soon. I made it! I am okay! I can do this!

I am really tired!

JMB

2 comments:

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  2. knew you could, knew it, knew you would, knew you, tou're the champ, always are. btw you sound great; wish I could be there, why the blazes didn't I just plunk down and buy a ticket! We just had a fierce nor'easter here. I know you love storms; this was a doozy, complete with lightening that touched the ground, 50 MPH winds, and gulls hovering over a single spot as the wind hit them head on. How DO they do it. Needless to say we made it. I even saved the garden.

    "A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward."
    - Jean Paul Richter

    so send me a wallaby.
    We all send you our love,
    Blondie, Petey, Michael

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