Downtown Sydney and health code violations in Manly

I'm a bit cranky today so I apologize if this post is sub-par. Yesterday was my first memorable Valentine's Day in a very plutonic and comical way. Jordan and I started the day by meandering through Hyde park towards the Opera house. It turned out to be really sunny so it was actually the perfect day to see this architectural wonder. It was a very touristy area but also, we discovered, closer to the action downtown. Jordan's been going on and on about how there's nobody on the streets considering it's a city of 5 million people (like probably 5 times a day he stops in amazement), so it was a bit of a surprise to feel jostled on a walk through the downtown core.

After calling home for a bit (I called Graeme instead) we caught a bicycle taxi to Chinatown. Our driver was hilarious...hilarious because I'm pretty sure Jordan almost passed out multiple times on the way there. He was jokester from Britain who weaved in and out of traffic like nobody's business. The best part though... as we crested a major hill and began a particularly treacherous descent he exclaimed gleefully that he was glad he had had his morning cocktail... don't worry my resuscitation of Jordan was successful.

We got to Paddy's market (like Richmond night market) in one piece, ate lunch, and bought some sunglasses. We then headed back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, and ran over to catch the ferry to Manly beach. The hostel we booked was unfortunately less than sanitary with terrible service... and this is the part of the story where I get understandably cranky so I will leave it at, we had a nice dinner and wine and then hit up a club before crashing back at the hostel.

I'm worried the pictures may never come as Jordan keeps forgetting to bring the cord to upload them...:( Will try a cheerier post tomorrow.