Sydney (pronounced seed knee)

Our Townhouse in Potts Point

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge

from Circular Quay

What a gorgeous city! It’s been said many times before, but what a view - that opera house, the bridge, Circular Quay. Wow! We arrived Fri. p.m. at rush hour, picked up our rental car and headed with some trepidation to the city. We had it all figured out on the map, but of course...
We didn’t even know our travel agent had booked a car for us here. It was an oversight on our part, and we most certainly would have cancelled it, but we’d already paid for it. We don’t like trying to find our way driving in large unfamiliar cities. However, the car had AC and it was hot; we were back in summer humidity after fall temperatures in NZ. We’d hoped by this time of year it would be cooling a little. Duncan had to take time to register the car with the toll road authorities – just like in Hungary! One has to pay a fee via credit card for using the toll roads. We did get lost but not badly so we found our way to Potts Point in the end, our home for the next week. Yea! I like staying places for at least a week.
We’d rented a “luxury” according to the website, townhouse in a trendy neighbourhood. The second part was correct, but the first was a bit of a stretch. After getting the key out of a lockbox in the dark and opening two locks, I entered the flat. Being a spoiled North American, I had assumed there would be AC in a hot city like Sydney, foolish me! Duncan had gone off to find a place to park the car, while I tried to figure out how to cool the place down. Not even a fan ...then I looked above my head and saw a ceiling fan, praise the lord! But wait – how do I turn it on? I searched everywhere for a control, on the wall, behind the bed, in the drawers. I read the copious instructions that came with the place and found that the control for the fan in the bedroom was outside the bathroom – foolish me, makes sense.
At least I got it going before Duncan showed up after a harrowing search for a parking garage. When he came in, he said, “Did you find the control for the AC?” Oh dear, I felt I had let the side down here. I broke the bad news to him, no AC. Because Sydney gets quite hot, I just assumed... Ah well, we opened the windows and doors and got a breeze going, and it’s just fine. In looking around, it seems that our neighbours don’t have it either, I guess they just tough it out when it gets over 40C. Thank heavens we’re in the 30C range.
To be fair the townhouse is well equipped, comfortable and well located. The neighbourhood shops and restaurants are amazing. I would stay here again but not in the summer.