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On the way home from the second job tonight, my cab driver got a cell phone call. It was just now, so like 1:30am, and as he explained to me after the call, it was his wife, because their 3 month old son could not sleep, so he sang it a lullabye in Arabic. After the call, and after this was explained to me, he kept singing it. I have always had a tremendously deep affection for those sorts of sounds, and congenially wizzing through the city to it in the middle of the night was particularly lovely.

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moshah and neo_nym are each going to Sydney soon and I promised them recs, and so here they are:

This is necessarily an odd list, because I didn't really go to Sydney as a tourist, but I also wasn't really there long enough to say that I lived there. And of course there was some incredible specificity about how and why I wound up there.

So take this with a grain of salt... it's not a tourist must-do list, and it's certainly not the secrets of a native. But it's stuff you might well miss as a tourist:

- for public transportation, get the weekly red passes. They are A$32 and give you unlimited rides on the busses, trains and ferries. You probably won't need to take the ferry that much, but it's not at all cheap on single rides, and you're better off getting the pass that includes it. Also, I loved the ferry -- it's not like ferries I've been on in America... faster, ferocious and with a point,and I found it relentlessly pleasing. It's also the easiest way to travel between some points. And while CityRail seems less confusing than the buses -- it is a piece of shit, and other than doing it for the views it affords you of the city in places (much of it is above ground), the buses are more efficient and less annoying. It's called ShittyRail for a reason. You should ride it just to get the lime and black pepper potato chips out of the vending machines though.

- food! Sydney has awesome food. Oh oh oh. Some places:

bills 422 Liverpool in Darlinghurst
They have normal tables and a big communal table. Their hot chocolate is the best I've ever had. That and toasted coconut bread at the communal table early in the morning is about one of the most pleasant things I've ever done in my life. It is the dining experience equivalent of "Serenity Now".

sushi-e 252 George Street in the CBD, Level 4 of the Establishment Hotel.
You absolutely need reservations, and it's absolutely worth it. The head sushi chef there is basically considered the best non-Japanese sushi chef in the world. He's also really nice and chatty. If sushi isn't your thing or you need to hang out afterwards, Hemispheres in the Establishment is great for pricey snacks and drinks. I tend to be an absinthe purist, but the applesinthe coctail is one the greatest things I've ever drunk and it should be for A$19. Sushi-e is pricey, but you can get out of their cheapish -- rolls start at A$12, tax is already built into the price and tipping is generally only 10%, and they really don't seem to mind you just having a snack. Bit of a celebrity hang out. Be warned that their spicey tuna roll includes 7 types of dried up peppers and is waaaay spicier than what we would expect in this country. Their Establishment Roll is lovely, and the crazy expensive miso soup justifies its price. They also have cooked japanese dishes and they privde a small perfect desert complimentary.

Le Petit Creme 116-118 Darlinghurst Rd in Darlinghurst
OJ so cold it's nearly frozen, great eggs, best pain au chocolat ever. Charming charming. Warning: scrambled eggs in Sydney are extraordinarily wet... if this squicks you, don't order eggs anywhere while you're there. This normally squicks me, but their eggs were fab.

Tropicana 277 Victoria Street in, yet again, Darlinghurst
This place owns my soul. Cheapest food I had in Sydney and yummy yummy yummy... very casual, but a film scene hang out, can especially be a scene on warm evenings with the outside tables. One of the best places to get a sense of the casual fabulousness of Sydney. And really... cheap yum. Often mobbed. But, you must eat here. You must eat here. The grilled chicken salad is a special sort of yum -- lettuce, avocado, tomato, grilled chicken, paper thin grilled eggplant, hommade herb mayo and french fries (right in the salad!). Heaven, and how I learned scenes in absolutely no time whatsoever.

Out and about snacks -- it's gelato, not icecream, and in weird flavours. Personally, I recommend cantalope. Sausage rolls, if you eat pork are the buttery fabulousness of all time. Also, cheap cheap. Big fan of the coconut slice as well. Also Milo bars rocked my world, and the now infamous coconut ice.


beaches:

Do the walk from Coogee to North Bondi -- bring sunglasses as it's very windy and your eyes will be filled with crap otherwise. It's about 5 miles, and it's spectacular. Bondi itself to me is very LA, and not my scene, but worth checking out. Bronte (it's Coogee, Bronte, Tamarama, Bondi, North Bondi) was my favourite of beaches (I never got to the nothern ones and can't comment), but is a bit overrun with kids. It's hopelessly charming though.


Stuff:

The Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour is really lovely, regardless of whether you are an age of sail geek or looking to get a sense of how Australia understands itself. It's also free. It's the first thing I did in Sydney, and it really provided a fascinating foundation of understanding. Also check out the Welcome Wall.

The Stables Theatre -- I don't know if it's all productions or just what was on when I was there, but find out... on Monday's nights when I was there their current show went on at 6:30 for a pay what you can evening, and it's a spectacular, highly regarded theater, and I saw something fabulous for A$5.
It's also worth seeing what's on at NIDA, as they have a new spectacular theatre that has both student and professional products on the cheap.

Take a ferry out to Double Bay and just walk around. Double Bay is also known as Double Pay -- it's a really ritzy neighborhood. But don't go to look at all the shops, instead make a right when you get off the ferry and walk past the park until you see the grown over flight of stairs, go up those, and it's like entering this quite, remote, overgrown world of desserted wealth. It was really magical and strange -- but think twice about taking pictures... a lot of celebs live up there, and people get pissy if they think that's what you're up to (I was trying to get a good shot of rotting trees).

Really spend time at the Opera House... it's a weirdly powerful place, and looking at the harbour from it is like witnessing a glorious science fiction city. From there, defintiely spend a lot of time in the botanic gardens. They are free and stunning and so much relics of another age in their design and in the weird things they are populated with, especially the hollow trees.

Taronga Zoo is awesome, and if it's bettween that and the aquarium go to the zoo. Be advised though that the zoo is built into the side of a hill and it's a lot of very exhausting walking involved. Also be advised that the animals are not always fenced in and can be a bit... surprising. I had an incident with a wet, angry emu. And a dingo also scared the crap out of me.

the Library of New South Wales, home of Trim the Sailor Cat is also worth a looksee, and is a quick walk from Circular Quay. The building itself is beautiful and they have exhibits there. Eye 4 Photography will still be on into mid-June, and it's fantastic... photograhy throughout the history of Australia and the sort of images that it's really a once in a lifetime opportunity to see. You can also order prints of them, and the one I got from there is one of my favurite and most uniquely special ones of my trip.

Part of what I fell in love with in Sydney are its odd, and at times heartbreaking, juxtapositions. The ones that will catch your attention will certainly be different from the ones that caught mine, but I can't recommend walking around aimlessly enough. One of my favourite was walks from Kings Cross to Darlinghurst (which is like 5 minutes and why anyone pretends they are two different neighborhoods I'm not entirely clear on) and then either right, to loop back to the CBD or left up Oxford to browse all the expensive shops as you head towards Bondi.