Sydney Opera House

'Tis not only an opera house, but a whole entertainments complex. It has a concert hall and a theatre in addition to the opera auditorium. It's designed all the way through, from the outside shells to the rather amazing wash basins in the toilets - which are not wash basins, but a kind of long shelf with the occasional wave down towards the back, where the water drains away - somewhere. I wonder what the urinals are like?

The bones of the opera house are huge exposed concrete beams which go from the ground right along and up the building. Much of the inside is exposed concrete, as was fashionable at the time. The concert hall has more wood than the opera auditorium - there is talk of poor acoustics, but they seemed all right to me. Especially since even in row U of the opera auditorium I could hear and see very clearly - the rows of seats rise steeply, so even at the back you can see (thank you, Mr Architect). The concert hall is huge - it must take thousands!

In the interval it was possible to go out on the balcony overlooking the harbour and the harbour bridge. Is that romantic or what? It's a brilliant location for an opera house, though quite a long hike from the centre. Because of that by the time I arrived for the opera no food was left in the bistro...and after the opera finished, by 10.45, everything in the town was closed. So dinner was a breadroll before the show, and an ice lolly afterwards (even the hotel bar had closed at 11).