day out

Yesterday I Had a lovely day out with my DD. We met at Strathfield station in the mid-morning and caught a train to Newtown for a day of culture and fun [and a little shopping].

At Newtown station we turned left into King Street and walked for what seemed like miles [but was probably a kilometre] before crossing over and walking back up the other side of the road. We had looked in the windows of a few shops but our first real stop was The Fiji Market [591 King St] which we had first visited on a Gourmet Safari tour. We loved the smell of the Indian spices and the feel and colour of the silk in the saris. But, pretty soon, all the aromas became overpowering to The Pregnant One and it was time to move on.

And so continued our slow ramble up King Street before a stop for lunch at Arabella Lebanese restaurant. The food [hommous, tabouli, fatoush and majadra] was some of the best Lebanese we've ever tasted and the serving sizes were more than adequate! We had to wonder why we were the only ones in the restaurant at lunch time!

Then came a visit to an ever-interesting shop: All Buttons Great and Small. We spent ages inside, ooh-ing and ah-ing over the cuteness/beauty/wonder of the buttons before continuing our ramble northwards, in and out of boutiques, second hand clothes shops, and shops selling artifacts from all over the world. After a long walk for The Pregnant One [henceforth known as TPO] we finally arrived at 47 King St - the supposed highlight of my day! Can anyone tell me what happened to Champion Textiles? Have they moved or gone for good? How disappointing, especially for TPO. It was a long walk in the spring sunshine with a full belly from that delicious lunch [at 489 King St]. And it seemed, for her, a long walk back to the station.

The day drew to a close with a cool drink at the Bank Hotel conveniently located quite near the station [our ultimate destination] and some comfortable lounge chairs a mere ice-throw from the ladies' conveniences! For non-drinkers, I don't think we've ever visited so many pubs [well, the ladies' rooms anyway!] in one day - luckily, pubs are abundant in King St.

We had visited Fiji, India, USA, UK, Africa, Lebanon, Himalayas, Turkey, Afghanistan, Thailand, China and Japan during our travels and never left King St! What a fabulous place - I encourage everyone who visits Sysney and is interested in cultures from around the world to visit Newtown at least once. And spending the day with my DD was the best treat of all!

But what happened to Champion Textiles?