The Long Walk

Luckily for me Sydney is not that big of a city. It is rather easy to get around on foot and having kept up a rigorous walking regimen I am in peak stride (thanks Arthur Frommer). My list of free/inexpensive things to do here is gradually winding down and today was my day to visit Sydney's famous fish market. I have been waiting for a bowl of good clam chowder for a long time and I was sure that I would find one there. I planned my walking path, which didn't take long. I just had to go out the front door, turn left and walk for four miles. I walked out the door, turned left and began walking. I felt a familiar feeling, though. There was some sort of watery discharge coming from the clouds above me. That's right, it was rain. Son of a bitch. I am starting to think that since the prevailing winds tend to go east to west, and I am going east to west around the world that for the past few months I have been followed by the same dam storm. The clouds look awfully similar.

I made an about-face and headed back in to check the weather report to see if I could just wait out the rain. The weather told me to expect rain later, but that it was not raining at the moment. I am losing faith in the internet, if it is on the internet isn't it true? I decided to go the old fashioned route and ask a local. I went to the convenience store next door and chatted up the worker there. He was from Taiwan, but he had been living in Australia for 2 years. His credentials checked out good enough so I popped the question,"when you think this rain will

clear out?" I asked. "It's done, you will be fine." He replied. I looked outside and sure enough, there was sunlight. I bid farewell to my new clairvoyant friend and chugged on, ever closer to my bowl of clam chowder.

The walk to the fish market from Kings Cross takes you most of the way across Sydney. For most everything that I have done I have taken the same street and today was no different, I would just be taking it longer than I had before. On my walk today I really started to take notice of all the little things. All over the city there are odd little works of art I guess you would call them. In one round-about there was a car with a big rock dropped on it. It is stuff like that, just randomly dispersed throughout the city. It made for some good photographic fodder, but I had to scratch my head searching for a reason why some of these things are there.

I did come across a giant chess board in the park. I stopped for a bit to watch. It was around lunch time and there were guys in business suits, I'm assuming on their lunch break, watching the chess match. Chess is not the best spectator sport. I would liken it to watching someone play solitaire. Every move that was made would provoke a wince or a sarcastic sigh from the onlookers. There was no shortage of sideline critics. Whenever I play solitaire on the airplane I inevitably sit next to someone who starts telling me which red jack to put on some black queen somewhere. I don't think that they understand that solitaire is not a team sport, hence the name solitaire.

With my bowl of chowder beckoning me I beat feet and trudged on. As I reached the fish market the sun started to peek between the clouds. I smiled up at Mr. Sun as I headed into Sydney's famous Fish Market. The market is an old warehouse that they converted, by converted I mean put chairs and tables, into a few store fronts, making it resemble a food court. The eateries are all downstairs and then upstairs there is the auction house where all of the fresh exotic catches of the day are bought and sold. I perused the offerings, still in search of my clam chowder. I asked an official looking person which place had the best clam chowder and wouldn't you know it, the only place that serves clam chowder in the whole fish market was closed for renovation. My c

lam chowder bubble burst. I donned a frown and sulked around the market for a bit. To my surprise, though, I found a delectable bakery. I wondered what a bakery was doing in the fish market, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? One caramel macadamia pastry later and I couldn't even remember what ingredients were in clam chowder.

The fish market is a short walk from Sydney's Darling Harbor, which is an upscale park and restaurant area, so I made a quick stop there. They have the world's largest IMAX screen there. It is huge. They were playing Harry Potter, which I did not have much desire to watch, seeing as Harry would be on a 10 story screen, so I sat around the park for a little. It did not take long for some menacing clouds to appear so I took the hint and made my way home. I felt satisfied with my days work, though. I failed to have a bowl of clam chowder, but was happy to substitute it with my macadamia caramel delight. There seems to be a reoccurring theme with rain and interrupted plans. Maybe I should look at a weather report and plan things in advance. Naaa, what's the fun in that?