When we passed the equator a violent turbulence did shake the airplane
like a leave. It reminded me flying F-16 at low level, high speed over
mountains, in stormy weather. The trip was long, too long. The seat
pitch of the economy class of United Air lines might be OK for a pygmy,
but not for a normal person of 1.90m.
Every few hours some exercise was required to survive.
Sydney was nice, sunny and warm. We planned to visit Sydney for
two days. The first day we walked a few hours through the centre and
parks. But when the hotel room was ready, we were worn out by the long
flight and the jetlag. So we decided to take a short nap, which lasted
however 17 hours.....
Sydney is a well maintained and organised big town. Four million
people are living there. Sky scrapers dwarf the few colonial buildings
which remained. The skyline is impressive. The town looks very well
maintained and tidy.
BR>
We decided to go to the harbour with the famous Opera House and the huge Harbour bridge. It's lovely to spend your time there as a tourist.
We saw a military ceremony, attended by many veterans, in front of the townhall.
Apart from the Aussies, we met in the past, we know only one family living in Australia, who we met before, . That is General Lajos Fodor, the former Hungarian Chief of Defence.
We had a good relationship with him during our assignment as diplomat in Budapest. He is now accredited to Canberra as Ambassador. And guess who we -just by coincidence- met in the harbour of Sydney, 500 kms from Canberra? Yes, Ambassador Lajos Fodor, A chance of one in a billion? A needle in a haystack? No, the chance was much, much smaller! We had a nice talk and, as we did not plan to go to Canberra as we were there before, we decided to exchange emails.
BR>
