For every beginning is also a continuation, and the book of events is always open (W. Szymborska).: Sydney, day 2

I woke up early due to jet lag and went to the supermarket at 7 a.m (yes, it was open!) before my Opera House guided tour. The tour lasted almost one hour and I got to see 2 of the main halls, the Concert Hall and the Opera room. The building is simply stunning, it's still so avant-garde today that it's hard to imagine the impact it must have had when it was inaugurated back in the 70s... I couldn't afford a concert, but thanks to the excellent and witty guide I got to know everything, anecdotes included, about the Opera House. Then I took a ferry to Manly, crossing Sydney Harbour for 30 minutes.
Manly is a high-scale area full of posh houses with lush gardens overlooking the bay. There are two scenic walks which offer amazing views of the bay and the city far away. I imagine that if you have lived in such a place there's no other place on Earth you'd rather live. The centre of Sydney is only a 30min ferry ride away and yet you feel as if you're in another world: amazing gardens, forests with lovely paths, secluded beaches, almost no traffic noise or even no noise at all, except the birds and the sea.

At the end of my 1st walk I was lucky enough to meet two elderly couples who offered me a ride back to Manly Wharf. They were well-travelled and wanted to know everything about home. Two of them, a Scot and an Italian, had emigrated to Australia by boat 50 years ago, the Italian guy still had his thick accent and when I told him I understood Italian he couldn't stop talking :-) Four lovely people.

After my second walk, no couples with a car to save me here!, I took a bus back to the centre, crossing Harbour Bridge. It was already dark and they had turned the lights of the Opera House on. Obviously, I've fallen in love with the Opera House...