Wedding Bells in Sydney

Wedding bells are ringing—in Sydney! This past weekend, I was able to celebrate a Nuptial Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. I had the rehearsal on Thursday at 3:45 pm so I decided to make that my day off, head out to the city early, have lunch with a friend and then wander about. The day started rather cool with strong gusts (20 mph?) which made it feel cooler. I took the bus system and it ran smoothly; it took maybe 1.25 hours to get to Sydney.

I arrived around 10:45 am and so decided to explore. On the way in, just after the Sydney Harbor Bridge, I noticed an old observatory. It sits high up on a hill, so up I walked to try to find it. You can't see it well from street side, but I sort of kept searching for it and thankfully found signs for it, about a 10 minute walk away. Along the way, I came across some of the old turn of the century homes (Phots 1, 2 and 5…from now on numbers in parens refer to photos). They are lovely little homes/businesses with cool iron works (3,4). In the second shot you can see on the left how some of the homes had been taken down and new buildings (far left) were erected. I don't mind the mix, I just hope the whole old neighborhood doesn't become new. Wouldn't you love to stay at this old hotel (5)?

The road kept winding around the hill until the top, where the observatory sits (6). Behind the museum you could see out toward the bridge (the Opera House sits to the east of the bridge; we are standing west of it, so you can't see the Opera House from this hill)(7). There were a lot of nice benches up here and it was such a lovely day, though windy. Cool old trees too—this one was mammoth (8). Here rae some great views too of the streets and the big bridge overshadowing everything (9-10).

The Observatory offers free viewings of the sun every quarter hour through a special telescope—how cool is that? And the whole museum was free, too. You can wander around and see amateur photos taken from telescopes. Many were breathtaking. You can also wander up into the old telescope (11) I thought the ceiling of the dome was very pretty in its own worn way. Looking out the dome's window, you could see the buildings old weather vane (12). Here is a detail from the outside (13).

Time for lunch. I met my friend, who got married around my birthday…at a Japanese restaurant. Had lovely Ramen noodle soup in a huge bowl. Nice lunch catching up about super heroes and comic books. (Yes, I am a superhero freak.) He only had an hour, so he had to return to work, but I still had time until the rehearsal so I went to Barangaroo Park.

If you recall, this is a new park downtown that used to be the site of an old navy yard (I believe) and they converted the place back into park for people to stroll around and jog. Jogging is what I wanted to do, but needed some time for lunch to settle. They were showing an exhibit of outdoor sculptures, very nice. Here are a few of what I saw (14-25). These stacked logs (14-15) were interesting because of their scale. See how tall the tower goes in 14? (18) is a detail of (17). I liked the way the sunlight shone through the natural shell. It seemed to glow with inner fire. It reminded me of the Holy Spirit! (19-21) are all the same sculpture from various angles. They looked like trees from a Dr. Seuss book. ALmost alive even. Strange round, almost womb-like openings in each "tree" faced the other, and within was grey velvet. Not sure what the artist intended, but I liked the creativity and scale. (23) reminded me of something I put together in college 3D art class. (That was not a complement). (24-25) was the coolest. A huge plexiglass ball filled with water that reflected the world upside down. It reminded me of the "jelly bean" reflective sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park. Hard to get a good picture of it with so many of us wanting selfies beside it!

From Barangaroo, I started my jog around to the Sydney Opera House, stopping at various spots to take pictures of the bridge (26) the opera house (27), the opera house from the far side (the one most people don't see) (28-31). Then you come to the arboretum that is celebrating 200 years this year (32). I then wound my way back to the city, going around the gardens. Here is a cool old sculpture on a street corner opposite the cathedral (33).

Saint Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, reminded me a lot of the feeling one gets walking into the Basilica. It is not as pretty as the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee (where I was stationed before) but it is very pretty. It has a lovely exterior made more beautiful by the sunset (34). Here is a statue outside of the one and only Australian Saint, Mary Mackillop (35), who worked with educating the poorest of the poor in Sydney and in the Outback of Australia. (36) is a shot of the Cathedral reflecting in a pool down the block.

(37-39) are more details from the outside of the Cathedral; (40-41) its nave and high altar; (42) detail of the ceiling; (43) detail of mosaic floor in front of the altar; (44-45) image of "Our Lady of the Southern Cross" painted by an Australian artist (in the image you can see the constellation of the Southern Cross over on the right side) (Folks say this is modeled after Natalie Portman of Star Wars Queen Amidala fame—she does look like her!); (46) statue of Christ in the sanctuary; (47) the cathedra or chair of the bishop (Archbishop Anthony Fischer) fom which the word "cathedral" comes; (48) the Easter Candle and stand which is taller than me—how do they light it???

(49) is a shot taken outside the Cathedral after the rehearsal with the whole wedding party. Because it is a cathedral and very busy, they allow no time for photos inside after the wedding—can you believe it? So all the photos had to be taken outside on the steps. Here is the first one (50)—a selfie of me with the bride and groom. She (Marie) is Filipina and he (Artem) is Russian (with a wonderful Russian accent). Both are now Australian and married. Marie is the only daugher of some close friends of mine in the parish (who helped me procure the roast pork last week). I was able to help them with their daughter's wedding after the priest who was scheduled to officiate had to back out due to another family obligation. It was my pleasure to be able to do this for them.

In the selfie (50), you can see another priest in the upper right (Fr. Reggie) who is also my friend, and Filipino. He along with my associate (Fr. Gerard) concelebrated the wedding Mass. Afterwards, we all went to the reception at Darling Harbor (on the eastside of Sydney), at the Star Club—a ritzy place on the penthouse (6th floor) of a building overlooking the water. Images 51-54 are of the venue, flower arrangements, a sweets table and a view from the windows. One whole wall was glass overlooking Darling Harbor. They also had a photo booth with silly hats, glasses, wigs etc., Ukranian dancers (55-56); and fireworks (57-59) in Darling Harbor! (60) is of the proud mother of the bride, Virginia, a lawyer in Parramatta, with Fr. Gerard and myself and (61) is of the whole Filipino wedding contingent (+ one Cuban friar). What a night!!!

Finally, a sunset (61) from earlier in the week. It, too, was spectacular. Keep saying prayers for me as I deal with all the sacraments here. It's a busy time with Confirmations and First Communions and the headaches that come with dealing with parents of these kids. Not always easy…until next week!