An Overnight Trip to Sydney

I had an early afternoon specialist doctor's appointment on the north side of Sydney so we decided to spend the night rather than drive home the same day. Its a 4+ hour drive each way from the south coast.
It turned out to be a foodie and quilt shop couple of days.
On the way up we stopped off at our favourite cafe, The Emporium, in Berry for coffee. Berry has been bypassed by a new highway section in the last few months and what a difference that has made. The town is much more relaxed with no trucks rumbling down the main street. Business people have not noticed any drop in clientele which is also good.

We lunched at Bloom in Mosman near the doctor's office. They had a new menu and for once I tried a vegetarian bowl which was excellent.

After the appointment, we drove through what seemed 500 sets of traffic lights to the northern beach suburb of Mona Vale. 
Traffic in Sydney and suburbs is horrendous!  
There is a quilt store there which the co driver had been told about and she was very happy with what she found.
Then it was back to North Sydney and our hotel, The McLaren. 
North Sydney is a business area over the harbour bridge from the Sydney CBD (downtown). It used to be full of grand houses, many of which have been knocked down and replaced by the Warringah Freeway and glass and metal skyscrapers. Luckily a few have been spared, our hotel being one, in street where there were many 'survivors'.

The hotel is a mixture of olde worlde charm and modern convenience. Rates are half that of those across the harbour. The co driver was put onto this place when travelling to Sydney with her quilt group. We got upgraded due to her patronage,
Dinner was at the Sakura which was excellent.
We like Japanese food and this menu had many new things to try.
We have tentative plans to visit Japan in January 2020 for the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival so are looking forward to immersing ourselves more in their food then. 

The next morning we headed back into the business district with throngs of people making their way to work and found a place for breakfast.
The Garage served great food and coffee and obviously catered for the business crowd.
The service was fast and efficient. 
We noticed that people in the city walked twice as fast as us and most had heads down looking at phones or are tuning out the world with headphones. 
Nobody smiles much in contrast to those in our little town. Makes us glad we live where we live
Then it was home, again via Berry where we shopped for wine, books and more quilt stuff.
Hopefully we don't have to go to Sydney again until next year when we head to the airport for our USA trip.
Great to be back!