A look inside

Yesterday we did a concert at St. Anthony's, a huge Anglican church not far from our hotel. The acoustics and the piano were great, but only about ten people showed up (perhaps wandered in by mistake).
Afterwards Paul Donnelly, who we met in San Francisco a couple of years ago picked us up and took us to the Powerhouse Museum. It's quite an old museum, about 125 years old, and covers the history of technology and design. The exhibitions are gorgeously laid out and they have more electronic and interactive displays than any other museum I've seen, even the tech museum in San Jose. It's even better than the Science and industry museum in Chicago or the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
They also have some great historic objects like a real Nazi Enigma coding machine, part of Charles Babbage's difference machine, and an incredible astronomical clock which we were lucky enough to see strike the hour.
After that we went down to the Botanical Gardens where, with the Opera House in the background, we saw fruit bats flying around. They are huge; "possums with wings" as Paul's wife tiffany described them. Jennifer saw one eating fruit up close and exclaimed, "Oh my God!" Some teenage girls sitting nearby echoed, "Oh my Gawd" making fun of her accent. "Terrible American accent," Jennifer said and walked away.
Then we went to Paul and Tiffany's flat. Tiffany is a Vice Principal of the Women's College at the University of Sydney, so they live right in the residence hall in student housing. It's small but incredibly convenient to everything. Paul and Tiffany have a ten-month-old son and Paul's half-Lebanese daughter from a previous marriage and Tiffany's parents were also visiting. We had quite a lively discussion comparing our societies. I'm afraid America came of slightly the worse. They were especially horrified at our lack of a national health system.
Today we're going to get a tour inside the Sydney Opera House. I also hope I can get to the main art museum... it's my last chance.