Down Under: Days 10 and 11

The only neighborhood I had heard and read about that I had not yet visited in Sydney was Paddignton. It wasn't exactly walking-distance from our hotel, but at this point I was sick of trying to figure out the bus (train didn't go there), so I decided I would put on some comfy shoes and make the trek over to this area.

To get there, first I had to walk through the other part of Sydney that reminds me of San Francisco: the gay district. Literally every other business is a sex shop and all the cafes have very suggestive names like Spicy Affair (Indian) and Thai Me Up (duh). It was cool to see that side of town and definitely made me feel like I was back in CA.

Once I got to Paddington, I realized that this area was probably too rich for my blood. The street is filled with fancy boutiques that I wouldn't dare enter. How do I know if the merch is too expensive for me? If there is space between the clothes on the racks, I probably can't afford it. That's how all these stores were. They were very nicely styled with cool window displays, but I could tell by the sparse look of each place that these were fancy-pants boutiques. Not for me. There were some cool places where I found some reasonably priced things, though.

No, I didn't take this picture (how embarrassing if I was like, hey, can I take your picture? I'm not a tourist... or a stalker... I swear!), it is from Ariel Books' facebook page. Now, this place wasn't cheap, but it was cute and quirky and the shelves were stocked. I found an awesome children's book by an Australian author and bought it for... a kid myself.

The cover is sparkly and it has my favorite animal from our trip to Sydney: flying foxes! I am going to save this book for... well, you know.

Another shop I loved was called Bison.

They have the most beautiful pottery in all of the most amazing colors. I wanted to get a piece for my mother-in-law because she loves pottery, but I picked up the tiniest vase and it was $35. Seriously, it was as tall as my pointer finger and not much wider. Instead, I bought her some cute (and reasonably priced) tea towels.

I had an amazing vegetarian sandwich and a latte (it started to rain) at a little cafe and headed back to the hotel. The next day? I went back to the same neighborhood to pick up a birthday present for a friend and more tea towels for my mom and myself. I was running out of places to go and liked that I could walk there.

At this point in the trip, I was ready to go home, but I still had to see my koalas and kangaroos! Stay tuned!!