Final trip to Sydney

Our final trip to Sydney ended up being especially fun and memorable. Sunday morning I went with Carmen and Shelden to watch the rugby match Carlos was playing in. (Seth had a late night, schmoozing with celebrities in the Corporate Box at the Waratahs match the night before and couldn't get running by 5am to make it to the early morning game, haha). It was great fun to watch Carlos, with Shelden as the team's assistant coach, especially since Seth and I had been wanting to do so for months now.

For lunch Seth and I went to visit the Coluzzi family. We met them in September after stopping by the wildly popular establishment, Bar Coluzzi, located in Darlinghurst (there is also one in Randwick and one in the International Terminal at the airport). The espresso shop was started 50 years ago by the champion boxer, Luigi Coluzzi, who had immigrated from Italy. There are very few Coluzzis out there, and the ones that we know about are all from a few small towns just outside Rome, so we figure Seth is somehow related to this Sydney line. We went to Paola's house overlooking Bondi Beach, where we met with her father (Luigi), mother (Elena), husband (John), brother in law (Derek), and daughter (Elenore). We had been meaning to see them before leaving Australia, so it was great to finally catch them. Maybe one of them will soon be able to put together the puzzle of their relatedness!

In the evening Seth and I cooked dinner for Shelden, Carmen, and Carlos--a big mix of food from the Americas, complete with quinoa, polenta, black beans, and steak--and that night indulged in some Eurovision!! It is an annual music competition involving all the countries of Europe, and can be best described by one word: Kitsch.

Yesterday morning we said goodbye to Shelden and his family. We are going to really miss those three! They are so friendly, easy-going, and cool about everything, which always makes it great to see them and stay with them while in Sydney.

We managed to go running down the canal, pack up our bags, and hustle into the City with just enough time before our bus back to Canberra to pick up a few buns from our favourite asian bakery, Saint Honore, and grab dumplings with soup from the AWESOME shop, Da Niang. We have to eat at Da Niang at least once every time we are in town, which goes against all our principles of eating out, but when the food is good, all rules go out the window!

It was a great trip, and I will really miss Sydney and hanging out with Shelden's family. We will definitely have to come back for a visit in the future :o)

Back at the Jolimont in Canberra I saw Merick (spelling?), the friendly and soft-spoken bum who would come around every day. He must have spent a lot of time at the map shop next door, because he really knew his geography, particularly of the US. I had to tell him I was leaving to go 'back to Carolina' , and I think it made him a little sad. I will miss him, too!

Now that we are back, we have two days to pack and say good-bye to a few more friends before starting the big move home!