It snowed for two days almost non-stop and caused a complete chaos in the city. I have never seen anything like that. The exhibition of Giovanni De Angelis | ICKU I was coming for got cancelled, all museums were closed as well (for the cause of snow. yeah, like it’s snowing inside of the museum).

The metro didnt run, neither did buses. All city reminded of a mad carousel of slow horses covered in snow with some psychadelic music on the background. People didn’t know what to wear, some wore skiis for that reason.

In other words, it was fun. All in all, it hasnt snowed for thirty years before, so I prefer to perceive the half-ruined weekend vacation as an opportunity one doesn’t get very often.

The most funny sight was in the Chinese quarter, where the local kids didn’t miss their chance to build lots and lots of snowmen, quite stunning with their creativity. But i guess you better take all your chances when you see snow once in 30 years.

Bondi is a crowded and touristy beach, it is quite hard to get away from there in afternoons as the traffic is not the best. But it has some advantages like quite a lot of restaurants and a shop where you can get Karums. Coogee beach I discovered just during this visit and this is my second favorite after Manly beach.

It turns out this walk has been around since 1930 (source).

Here are some of the best images I got:

Bondi beach

Waverly Cemetery

Coogee Beach

Spider, luckily not in my shoe:

Just before leaving Coogee, I was introduced with an amazing smoothie and juice bar, they have really nice fresh fruit juices in this country. I am thinking I should exchange my morning coffee for a nice cold fresh juice.

Last weekend was all about rest, beach and voting.

As you may have heard, there was a referendum in Latvia last Saturday if we should have Russian language as second language in Latvia. I generally did not pay too much attention to this up till I saw a dream of my mother and brother voting for and me being very angry. Maybe it was a sign, but I did found out it is possible to vote in Sydney. And turns out there is a Latvian house in Sydney. Seems that there could be around 300 Latvians in Sydney who can vote, at least according to the rumors I heard in this Latvian house.

So I was done with my vote around 11am on Saturday so it was a perfect timing to catch 12:15 ferry to Manly and spend some time on the beach. It was very crowded as there was surfing competition. I managed to escape the crowds by moving to “not so interesting” part of the beach.

I did get some tan and got a bit sunburnt. And managed to buy a book that kept me busy all weekend. If you like fantasy, I recommend Brandon Sanderson’s book Warbreaker. If I happen to get a good book in my hands, I just cannot put it down till I am done with it. Same happened with this one. But it was all worth it. And I must say, books in Sydney are crazy expensive.

And yes, I got a certificate today, all because I put peanut butter in my oatmeal. Don’t think it is so crazy though, I like peanut butter. And it goes well with oatmeal and blueberries. You should try

I have been wondering, is it possible to prove the fact that the more kilometers you run the happier you get? I think there is a connection there.

It was nice. It was very nice. If that can be said based on the fact, that I was only there for an hour or less, but the fact remains – what I saw was very and very inspiring.

So what I saw, was this guy Evan Roth, a co-founder at F.A.T. What gets Evan Roth hard, is something called Urban Hacking. He is even teaching a class with the same name. Evan is all about hacks. I don’t recollect the exact definition, but the punchline goes like – convert one thing into another using primitive or advanced avaliable technology.

All theory is best explained with examples – Roth showed some of his projects, most hilarious of which were:

1. Fake Google Streetview car

So apparently, you can mount up a car, which looks strikingly similar to Google Streetview car and drive around the streets, behaving how Google wouldn’t like to behave. More coverage here:

F.A.T. Lab: Fuck Google Week Wrap Up from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

2. Preventing passengers in front of you from lowering their seats

Annoyed by people lowering the seats in front of you? Here is how to solve it:

How To Keep Motherfu#%s From Putting Their Seats Back from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

3. White glove tracking

For those, who are not fans of Michael Jackson’s white glove, Evan Roth offered an opportunity to help isolate Michael Jackson’s white glove in all 10,060 frames of his nationally televised landmark performance of Billy Jean.
And isolate they did:

White Glove Tracking (2010) from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

Roth told about many many things more, the audience was laughing like crazy, and so was I. Now I just have to think about the implementation of the Urban Hacking in Barcelona, or just go and take over the world instead.

More of Evan’s works here – seriously recommended.

I was given an advise, if you do go to a pricy restaurant, then at least enjoy the menu. And that is exactly what I did!

For starters we tried scallops and oysters. I had scallops, they were absolutely amazing, I enjoyed every bit of the dish.

Then the wine we ordered for dinner came, absolutely gorgeous french Cabernet Franc – La Petite Cave.

And of course lets do not forget about the steak:

It was done medium, as per recommendations, very soft and with amazon flavor. Enjoyed every piece of it. If you want to find it on a menu, look for Chateaubriand – F1 Wagyu.

And then came the dessert. Nice wine to go with it, again French one, – Domaine Singla, Rivesalt Ambre, Languedoc Rousillon . I got Chocolate Brûlée with Cherry Sorbet. The one I would go for the next time I get a chance to visit this restaurant is Passionfruit Souffle.

I am not sure if this is the best steak place in Sydney, but one is for sure, it was the best steak I have had so far.

So lets talk about Home now. And this time I want to talk about restaurant – a really nice thai one on 299 Sussex street.

This place takes no reservations, instead you need to sign up on a paper by the door and take a sequence number. And then you need to wait outside, or go to some near bar or just go and buy some wine for dinner at near by bottle shop (BYOA – bring your own alcohol, quite popular concept in Sydney). Do bear in mind that the line moves quite fast and 15 people in front of you might mean 30 minutes wait time not 2 hours, we did almost missed our turn when we went there last time.

So now lets talk food, a very good food and reasonably priced one (starters from 5-10 AUD, single dishes from 9 AUD). And you can see the food being made.

My first favorite of tonight – Kanom Jeeb, no pictures as it turned out quite foggy one.

The second favorite was a really nice and fresh steamed chive dumplings. Really recommend.

The third starter we got was fish cakes (Pla Hed), nice and spicy ones.

And just when we were already full, the green chicken curry arrived, ordered extra spicy, made my cry, but in a good way .

Near to this thai restaurant I noticed a place called “Chocolate Factory”, sounds very tempting indeed, but to my great disappointment they did not have so much actual chocolate in there. So got some dark chocolate with blueberries in shop and a really nice red wine – Penfolds Shiraz.

Bateau Ivre 

Address: Oranienstr. 18, 10999

This was the first place we went to shortly after arriving to Kortbusser Tor, very excited. First thing I saw was a lot of litter and lots of hipsters in huge scarfs. This got me excited and I did not seize to be excited – right after seeing Ruta, I started jumping a bit, and jumped all the way to Bateau Ivre.
In Bateau Ivre I met some Spanish people. I kept meeting Spanish people through around the trip, apparently there is lots of Spanish in the world.
So Bateau Ivre – a dim place with a taste of Paris in the 30s. Lots of lamps, wooden arrangements, hand-painted menu, bartenders in cute small vests. Outside are some sitting places for smokers, together with some plants and a view on Oranienstrasse, which makes you wanna stay there forever. (If only it were warmer)

Hand-painted menu:

Mano Cafe 

Address: Skalitzer Straße 46A, 10997

Oh I didn’t mention, that we actually had a Google map with pins on where to go, so the closest next was Mano Cafe. As we walked down on the Skalitzer Strasse, I got another excitement attack, because I recognized the street from a trip to Berlin a year ago, which, needless to say, was legendary, and Skalitzer Strasse was exactly the street I was to last time.
Mano Cafe turned out to be even cozier than the previous one. With a whole wooden staircase for smokers outside, cute party lamps in different colors, and a sign not to disturb people living on other floors of this house on the corner. Inside wasn’t worse – Cuban atmosphere, more colorful lamps, very nice bartenders (Spanish-speaking, can you believe it). There was also a dj and a broad cocktail selection. Sitting room was arranged with many pillows and candles, leaving a very positive impression.

Mori 

Address: Wiener Straße 13, 10999

This was already the next day, and Mori was a cafe more than a bar. Here Irita met her future husband, who was cute and talkative Spanish-speaking person. Somewhere from South America, my guess. Anyways, the cafe featured cool posters, nice sitting places, tasty food (if to believe the menu sign) and capirinhas. Capirinhas are officially my new favorite drink.

Route 77

Address: Graefestraße 77, 10967

When we entered Route 77, first thing I saw was the poster which read:
Your leaders are lying. Your leaders are dying. Your dealers are lying. Your dealers are dying.
We shrugged and continued with the new favourite drink capirinhas. After that we ordered some nachos with guacamole and oh my god what portions and oh my god how tasty. The place was packed, they have life music, lots of hipsters (of course), low comfortable sofas and candles, candles, candles.

Minibar

Address: not sure, next door to Route 77

Now Minibar is not listed much on the Internet, but it was recommended to us as “probably the best bar in Berlin”. I have to agree, and we all did – Minibar is probably the best bar in Berlin. With its door right next to Route 77, all that indicates that its a bar at first is a red sign BAR. We entered and awkwardly asked if this was Minibar. It was. We were the first visitors. After some time, when around 10 people gathered in the place – Ruta noted that it was packed.
Anyway, Minibar indeed mini is, but sooo cool that its hard to describe, really. Again, nice bartender – not very talkative, but you know, the type, you want to hug out of nothing and say – I feel safe now. He was probably the owner too. High bar chairs, more capirinhas, very recommended place.

Excuse me for the shitty pictures, but somehow I think they convey the mood very well.

And a bonus – Ruta’s tattoo. We were pending on whether we should hide it better.

So decided to share some highlights of today…

It is raining all day, and raining is mildly said, it is jut pouring down. Not something I expected from Sydney at all. And next days do not look any better. I was thinking of buying a swim suit and sun glasses, instead I should go for an umbrella and rubber boots. I just keep reminding to myself that at least it is warm, lets see how long this will help.

Otherwise I did finally get the 10 dollar steak for lunch at Cargo Bar. I think it will be my lunch at least one time per week. It was really good. Just the red wine could make it better but I suppose I cannot do that for lunch really.

Managed to try out the apartment building’s gym also, a small one but nice to have it just downstairs. I think I will be one of the frequent visitors for next few months.

Tomorrow is a public holiday here – Australia day. Supposedly they have better fireworks than on New Years eve, but with this rain don’t think we will see anything.

First I must say that I almost did not get to come here as I did not think of applying for visa, well, for a person that has been to Sydney twice this is quite blond, but after very stressful Saturday night I did get my visa without any problems.

My first flight to Amsterdam was quite early – 6:25, so I had to wake up around 4. As I did not want to take my winter boots with (as I am coming back to Europe in late spring), I purchased summer ones, but did I managed to go through a pile of snow and get them quite wet, but, oh well, I am saying goodbye to winter now!

Had to wait some 4 hours in Amsterdam airport, not the most exciting place to be (unless you like casino’s as a place where to kill time while waiting for flights), but you can get 1 hour of quite slow internet for free, so at least there is something.

Next flight was 11 hours, to Guangzhou, with China Southern Airlines. The plane was nice and quite empty but did not manage to sleep as it was a day time in Europe still. Did watch few quite bad movies, lost in Scrabble and did not manage to do any of the studying I thought I will be able to do. 11 hour flights are not easy, especially when you know there is one more 9h one in front of you.

Guangzhou airport I remember as a very cold place, had to wait like for an hour for security checking for international flight, there was just 1 station for everyone who had transfer flight there and they scanned you, your belongings and yet again checked your boarding pass. Don’t really want to go back there.

The last 9h flight was quite a torture, plane was old, full, quite a lot of turbulence (yes, it still creeps me out), no option to choose movies, tried to sleep just to wake up every 20 minutes to see that we are not there yet. And a piece of advise, do not wear new shoes for long flights, it gets hard to put them on in the end.

Security check in Sydney went quite fast, no questions asked, no baggage scanning. Sydney greeted us with some rain last night, but I forgive it as it is nice and warm here.

So after 6h of sleep I am awake and enjoying some coffee. It is almost 7am in the morning and it is warm here!

Sleep well everyone back home!

Last time I was in Sydney in 2010, got the chance to go there twice. The place has a special charm I must say, don’t know if it is because it is so far away or because of the nice weather. But when I now think of Sydney, I remember sun, beach, nice food, long waiting by traffic lights by pedestrian crossings, making pancakes on Sunday mornings, banana bread, 10 dollar steak, checking my shoes for spiders, Blue mountains.

Hmm, hopefully in a bit more than a week I will be here:

But at the moment I am trying to find different excuses (yes, also making this blog post) not to finalize my Java homework that is due very soon, so I suppose I should just get back on interfaces and subclasses now. Unless I manage to find some other good excuse of course!