Leichhardt and beyond

I am now feeling quite settled into Leichhardt, a little suburb about 5 kilometers west of the center of Sydney. The area is named after an explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, who traipsed all over the Australian continent in search of new routes and connections, and then vanished without a trace on one (well, obviously the last) of his expeditions. The suburb Leichhardt now is known as (with no connection to the explorer) “Little Italy”; indeed, in my wanderings around I have heard Italian spoken, and Leichhardt is home to the Italian Forum – an area right off Norton Street designed to look and feel like a typical Italian piazza – a very large open courtyard, ringed by cafes and shops, and the Leichhardt Library – the shops are full of Italian designer clothes, shoes, and handbags. All up and down Norton Street there are dozens of Italian restaurants. I tried one last night…the rucola (rocket) and shaved parmesan salad was delicious (I think there is no better way of getting one’s greens than a big plate of rucola!) and the usually unexciting penne napoletana was delicious…la pasta al dente, the tomato sauce had just the right touch of sweetness, and the basil plentiful. I did hunt around for the right Italian restaurant to choose, and in my wanderings up and down Norton Street, the main drag in Leichhardt, I passed all the different varieties of restaurants: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Lebanese, trying to figure out which cuisine best suits the traveler on her own. The Lebanese restaurant advertises a cushion room, hubbly bubbly and a belly dancer”, so I can’t see plunking myself down to a meal with my newspaper there. I had my qualms about Italian because, let’s face it, people seem to be having so much fun at Italian restaurants, but I had had Japanese already last week, and had had Chinese in Beijing (of course!). That left Indian or Italian, but I was bent on Italian, just me and my newspaper. And it worked out just fine.
I have ventured beyond Norton Street…last Saturday I took a walk up Norton to Parramatta Road, the main drag which leads to Sydney center and to the University of Sydney. It’s not a very pretty walk – just a very busy major road lined with shops, closed shops, auto repair places, etc. I did discover more restaurants – Swiss, Turkish and even Spanish (in case I really miss the jamón serrano!!). On the same road, on my walk back from the U of Sydney this evening, I stumbled across the Marco Polo Café, which serves “pizza and Thai food”, which seems like a bizarre combination! And oddly there are literally dozens of bridal shops along Parramatta Road just at the top of Norton Street – I’ve never seen so many in one area.
Sunday I took myself off on the bus to the Sydney Harbour area. The Opera House is stunning, isn’t it? I hope to get inside at some point. The Harbour Bridge is beautiful…you probably can’t see the tiny figures walking over the top, but they are there. I’m thinking about doing the Harbour Bridge walk…I hear the views are magnificent. It is a bit pricey, but then, hey, I may only be here once! I had a coffee at an outdoor café on Circular Quay, with a view of both the Bridge and the Opera House, and was much intrigued by a sign that warned “Please Be Aware. Birds will try to take your food from your plate”. Luckily they’re not interested in cappuccino!







Monday morning I walked over to Jubilee Park (about 4 kilometers away from where I’m staying I was happy to discover after studying my map), one of three contiguous parks which overlook Rozelle Bay and which offer a view of Anzac Bridge (named for ‘Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces’) and beyond to the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney central business district. I plan to revisit the park area: the other day it was just a major triumph to have found it. I have yet to find a map which names all of the streets, so I felt just tiny bit like Ludwig Leichhardt out on an expedition. I had a couple of wrong turns (dead-end streets, major highways and train tunnels getting in the way) so I was pretty tired when I got to the park. Of course on the way back I had worked out the direct route, and think I can do it again in reverse. Some of the young persons staying here at Georgia House would also like to join in on this trek, so no danger of me disappearing in my explorations.

Georgia House continues to delight…there are young people (around 30-40 right now, although the place can accommodate over 100 – but it is summer here now, so the house isn’t full) from Spain, Italy, India, Pakistan, Chile, Argentina, Germany, Russia...and Australia, of course. We have a great big kitchen (after all, this was a residence for senior citizens) that we can cook in, so any meal preparation includes chats finding out where people are from and what they are doing here. Good energy!

Today was my first day at the University of Sydney, where I’ll be holed up in an office doing my research, with occasional forays over to the library, and meetings with people to bounce ideas around. The University is huge, and some of the buildings , like the Main Quadrangle, quite impressive—apparently designed to emulate the halls of Cambridge and Oxford. Tomorrow we tackle the bureaucracy of getting the library card and the university log-in.
Of course I had to buy a hat. One prof today admonished today that, yes, I might be used to being careful of the sun in Spain, but at least with the benefit of ozone, something people are very aware of lacking here. So I wear my hat!