The Chronicles of Sydney II

I slept quite comfortably last night, well, as good as you can sleep on a fold out bed with Nicole by your side.

We each take turns at getting ready; four girls sharing a single bathroom in the morning can be quite the task, not that Brendon would know – he was ready within minutes and decided to join us in our bedroom. I’m sure watching us get ready was like all his Christmas’ come at once; who can blame him?

Today is attempt two at trying to sneak out of the hotel room without wearing my lanyard in hope that Nadia doesn’t notice. Well, the sneaking part never happened. She was sure to conduct inspections before we even dare try to escape. Got to give it to her though, she’s quite the lanyard inspector! Brendon, feeling rather ashamed, tucks his lanyard under his shirt – this causes an outline of the lanyard to protrude through the fabric. Nicole is slightly bemused as to how and why Brendon has “a spine at the front”.

We jump on the train and head towards Surry Hills. Gavin and Chris have suggested today we have breakfast at Toast Café. Toast is a cute little café nestled away in what seems to be a quite little area on Reservoir Street in Surry Hills. Although the area seems to be away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney life, the café is quite busy and buzzing with a positive morning energy.

I am not a breakfast person. To be honest, the only time I will eat breakfast is if I am in Vegas (who can pass up a Vegas breakfast buffet?) or if someone is feeling generous enough to cook me bacon and eggs (a rarity these days). I was pleasantly surprised with how far the old breakfast menu had come… breakfast burritos, French toast with bananas and syrup, Lebanese garlic roast potatoes… I don’t ever remember having to put so much effort and brain power into picking a breakfast option. I decide to stick with the bacon and egg roll with potatoes. Like I said, I don’t really eat breakfast let alone eat out for breakfast so I have no expectations beyond that of a McDonalds bacon and egg McMuffin.

No expectations that is until a HUGE plate of food landed on my table – two fried eggs and at least 5 rashers of rindless bacon, and that was just in the bread roll! I had a side serving of the most drool worthy, delectable Lebanese garlic roasted potatoes – who knew breakfast could be such a mouth-gasm! Delish! I’ll definitely be stopping back at this place… should I happen to be in Sydney again.

We frolic off to Paddy’s Market and take a quick look around – apart from being such a cute market, nothing really catches my eye. This seems to be the general consensus and we all leave empty handed. I continue on with my anti-Sydney, pro Melbourne reasonings with a little help from Nicole who informs everyone that “Melbourne was invented before Sydney.” I’d sure love to hear the story behind the invention of Melbourne – wouldn’t you?

Another short stroll and we find ourselves at the Elf Workshop at David Jones. If you’re not aware, I’m an insane Christmas fanatic – absolutely bloody love this time of the year. I will mount Santa’s knee even if I am 24 and he will like it – Better yet, all nine of us will just invade on Santa’s personal space in the one go. Most action he’s had all year, I’m sure.

I would just like to say that the Santa at David Jones in Myer has to be the most cooperative, hip Santa I have ever come across!.How many Santa’s do you know are willing to participate in a staged photo shoot with not just one shot, but multiple!? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Check it out… Aren’t we just the cutest things ever in our little Santa hats, reindeer antlers and elf ears!

Observe: Cute Santa, Peace Santa, Caught Off Guard Santa, Love Heart Santa and Gangster Santa

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After some browsing at the new Westfield, which, I will admit, it rather lovely, we make our way back to the hotel to shower, change and get ready for a big night out.

Our first stop for the night is JuJu’s Japanese Restaurant in Kings Cross. After making our way down a  suspicious, not so nice smelling, flight of stairs that leads into the restaurant, we are greeted by staff that hand us plastic bags and request that we remove our shoes before we can be escorted to our table – this is find rather unusual but oddly enough, rather intriguing.

JuJu’s has a pretty cool set up – The tables sit in a hole that is in the ground, so that when you take your seat, you are actually sitting with your butt on the ground, and your legs dangling into the hole below the table top.  There is a cushion for each person to sit on around the table so that your butt isn’t left sitting on the wooden floor boards.  If you need to use the bathroom, before entering, there are pairs of sandals to put on at the bathroom door. Odd concept and kind of hard to explain, but it makes sense in my head.

While awaiting the arrival of our food, we start playing with our chopsticks. Since I suck at mastering the correct chopstick technique, I come to the conclusion that the only way I will get any use out of my set is if I play with them. Yes, I’m 12, and no, if you take me on a date, I will not do this. When my meal arrives, I ask for a fork – this will 110% guarantee that my food makes it into my mouth.

I ordered the fried chicken and white rice. The chicken is absolutely delicious, amongst some of the best I’ve had at any Japanese restaurant. The white rice, on the other hand, not so much. You’re probably thinking, how on earth can a Japanese restaurant stuff up plain white steamed rice, right? Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. It seemed to have some sort of gross, mushy texture, almost as though it had been over steamed and then fried – not very tasty. This may have been the first time in my life that I didn’t lick clean my white rice bowl.

After dinner we hailed a cab back to the same place we spent last night before we became grannies and headed home early. We thought we’d give the Shelbourne a second chance – after all, it was a Saturday night.

I don’t think we were even at the venue for ten minutes before Nadia and I were double fisting and having chugging competitions… which some how led to shots…

Which led to lovingly embracing one another…

Which some how led to an epic game of suck and blow (yes, there is a piece of paper in between them!)…

Not sure how, but glow sticks got involved and ended up making smiley faces down shirts (namely, mine)…

We all ended up on the podium when P!nk’s ‘Raise Your Glass’ came on…

And then somehow fit in a Maccas run somewhere between the hours of 2 and 3am (of course)!

From the photos, it seems we all had a great night…
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