July 21-22

Monday, July 21st

After we checked in at our other hotel, we headed to St. Mary's Cathedral. We stopped a chess game that was played on a giant chessboard. It was very interesting. Then we roamed around. Some of us tried to go to the merchandise building, but there was a line just to get in! We were all hoping that everything would be on sale. None of us were able to get in. I walked to a nearby mall, and looked (but was afraid to touch) a $1,795 purse. I did not even know they could cost that much!

We headed back to our hotel to grab more clothing. While we waited, I found the piano and began to play. It has been too long since I've touched the keys. It felt really good. I just wish our other hotel had one too. Anyways, after this we began our walk to the Harbour Bridge. Here, you have a beautiful view of the Opera House and the skyscrapers of Sydney. It was very windy up there. We wanted to wait until dark to see the Opera House lit up, but we would have had to wait a couple hours, so we headed back. We began to walk around by the Opera House in search for food. We failed to realize that any restaurants would be extremely expensive by such a tourist attraction. We walked around looking for a while before we settled on the food court across the street from our hotel. There was a McDonald's and a Hungry Jack's, which is the same as Burger King. The boys found out that they had free refills here, and spent the night getting refills. This is the only place in the whole city that gave free refills. Even the nice sit-down restaurants don't have refills. :(

That night we had mass in Fr. Daren's room. It was not as crammed with half as many people. Fr. Daren told us what all of his "clothing" he wears for mass means. He wears an alb, which means "white," and a chasuble (spelling). After mass, the boys raced down to the pool and hot tub. Apparently, Andrew fell on his butt stepping into the hot tub. He says it still hurts now. Fr. Daren really liked it because it was good for his arthiritis. Brett, David, and Alex all were in one room together with only two beds. They asked for a roll-out bed, but never got one. They complained this morning, and they got a $100 refund on their room. They were pretty excited about this, until they found out they didn't get to keep the money! :)


Tuesday, July 22

This morning, we had mass at 9:00 in Fr. Daren's room again. Afterwards, we all had breakfast in the food court across the street. The boys had Hungry Jack's again. I got a spring roll in a small shop instead.

At 10:30 we checked out, and headed to our first hotel. They didn't have enough room for us for one night, so we had to switch. :( But back at our original hotel, we piled all of our stuff into the only room that was ready. We hung out at the mall until 1:00. Then our other rooms were ready, and we unloaded all of our stuff. Well, the girls did. The boys said we took FOREVER to get ready to go to Bondi Beach.

At 1:30, we took a couple trains and buses to Bondi Beach. It is so pretty. The waves were atleast 15 feet high. I imagined it would be a lot bigger, but it was rather small. A few of the boys (Andrew, Alex, and Greg) went swimming. I called them crazy because it was so cold out. I had my jackets piled on. But they said the water wasn't really that cold. After they finished swimming, we took a walk around the beach. We got a lot of good pictures. I don't have my camera with my now, but I will try and get some pictures on here asap. I know you will agree with me on how beautiful it is.

Now, we are all relaxing and settling into our rooms. We are going to discuss what the Pope said later tonight. Fr. Daren said we are going to reflect on what he said at the opening ceremony on Thursday. Should be exciting! :)

That's about it for now. Fr. Chris called this morning and told us we got a full refund from the rooms in Melbourne. So, this means they have arrived safely. If anyone wants pictures of anything inparticular, let me know and I will try and put some up. Otherwise, we will all see you on Saturday!