In the last few months we made too many pictures but we have not updated our photo gallery so often.  To solve this problem we had the idea: why not regularly post one of our pictures on the blog?

Today we were very sad: Attila`s bike was stolen last night from the staircase. He went to work but came back very soon with the lock -cut across- in his hand and said calmly: `at least we do not need to sell it anymore  (when we move)`…

So what to do? Write a message on the wall like `hello, do you know who has taken my bike?`, as that `Germany-fan` guy did from the house some months ago searching for his jacket? It was stolen from the car park where he left it and it was a very important jacket for him because he had sewn the German flag into it after some kind of German football victory in the past…

Or call the police to ask them making a research in every flat in this district? Hello, haven`t you seen anyone in the dark last night during the heavy rains with a stolen bicycle? It doesn’t make much sense.

I wrote a message on Twitter, but at this stage it did not help.

So I made a quick research on Internet and found this website of Bicycles Network Australia and its forum about stolen bikes which seems to be the only effective solution. We can register our bike there and see what happens. Maybe somebody will find it or at least if the thief wants to sell the bike maybe the buyer checks this website first. Who knows? But if you have a better idea how to find this bicycle, tell us, we would be very pleased!

When something is stolen from you - whether it is an important object or not - it is very frustrating and makes you nervous but also very empty for a while. It was yours!

Sydney is not a bad place to live and we are lucky because in this suburb we don`t feel the public safety or security to be as bad as it is said to be in some westerns suburbs. But being naive and leave the bicycle in the open staircase was not so smart.  After this we will not leave things in `unsecure places` ever. And maybe we will also tell this story to our friend who uses to leave his kayak sometimes on the street on his car, saying that `a lot of people use to have kayaks in Sydney, they won`t steel mine`…

But for now we upload this photo about the Ferris wheel from Luna Park in Sydney. It symbolizes some kind of nostalgic feeling. Ups and Downs…Generally I do not like fun-fairs.  And this park called Luna Park in Sydney also has not changed this feeling. It was almost empty every time we were walking by-maybe just because it was always raining as well…But the view must be scenic and nice from the cabins: the Luna Park is located on the harbour side in the north, just next to the tremendous Harbour Bridge, and you can see the Opera House on the left as well. Great place to visit!

We will also post a picture of the bike, in case you might see it somewhere, just let us know ….

So about the bicycle:

Type: Merida Dakar; Colour: black; mountain bike, 26 inch wheel, 21 inch frame.

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It was funny to read this morning, that it was so rainy in Coogee on Saturday evening that cars were floating on the roads, while we were so lucky to see the stars on a completely clear sky in Parramatta for several hours…

Last week one of the friends/colleagues of Attila invited us to go to this program in the west of Sydney. Okay, why not? That’s a great idea, especially, because we are celebrating the Year of Astronomy this year.

This event was organised by Parramatta Park Trust: some dozen of professional and amateur astronomers gathered in a huge park with impressive telescopes, one better than the other, to show the stars and the sky for the broad public. There were a lot of people living nearby and even more school children, so the atmosphere was really good.

My husband and his two colleagues represented the CSIRO and its department for astronomy called ATNF (Australian Telescope National Facility) with two telescopes. This was the very moment, when being a so called `astronomer wife` was a very good thing)) I could stand there with these guys and I could touch the telescopes and see whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, at least before the people arrived. This was a really big experience to see the Moon with the bigger telescope for a quarter of an hour or more, and see all those little and big craters, as I had never seen it before. It was so amazing!!!

I took some photos with our camera, but if you want to see better photos, maybe this blog will contain some. It is written by one of our friends, and he is blogging about astronomy in Spanish. But since he has put the Google translation program on the blog, you can follow his astronomy-stories in English as well. Sometimes it is funny because of the translation made by computer, but the blog itself is really interesting.

Back to the evening…I do not know why, but it was organised in the period of half moon, so you can imagine there was a lot of light, but no worries, we could see some real beauties…. For example Saturn with its ring and moons. I was told it would be more attractive in a few years, when it is tilted a bit, so you would see the ring even better.

Then there was the wonderful Orion Nebula with its gas cloud, this was very popular on Saturday night. We also could see the so called Stellar Jewel Box in the Milky Way, except for me. It was a small accident… I was freezing so much after two or three hours in the middle of the park at 10 p.m.,  that I sat into the car for a couple of minutes. Then I just missed it, because the sky became cloudy… But to tell you about the Jewel Box: it is a cluster of stars, nearby and shining in different colours.

Further more, there was a really interesting thing about the `double star`, as we used this term often to invite people to our telescopes. Would you like to see double stars? Double stars? Yes, they like two shining diamonds. WOWW!!Do you see them? Yessss,amazing!!!!What`s the name? Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri….

I did not know, that one of the Pointers - the two stars under the Southern Cross-, actually consists of three stars. The lowest bright star has three stars in reality, but you can see only two of them with these telescopes (and only one with your eyes).

And then it was interesting to see so many telescopes in one big park. There were also some bigger ones than ours. One particular one was sooo big, that you had to use a 3 m high ladder to reach it. The owner told us that the lens inside was 25 inch wide… Yes, this is the size of an average bicycle wheel…This telescope was actually very popular among the public: you had to wait in a queue))) It was pointed toward Saturn, and we also wanted to look have a look. But to tell you the truth, it was not much better than our telescope, though it was really amazing.

One more thing…I was amazed how clever the little children were. They asked several intelligent questions, so they made the atmosphere even better)))

Summarizing, I was really happy to be there. I can recommend you to visit this kind of event if you have one in your neighborhood. Everyone was so amazed by the stars!! Plus the sky in the southern hemisphere is much clearer than in the north. Attila will write a post about this later, if I ask him kindly)))

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Last Monday I got a ticket for a concert in the Sydney Opera House. It was the third concert I have visited here in Sydney. The weather was nice and warm, the sun was brightly shining and we had a very good time with friends. The way from Circular Quay to the Opera House is always very nice and uplifting, but now -because it was really warm, or just the time of the year - you could find a lot of flies or at least they found you, and did not want to let you go. The OZ-flies stick to your clothes, to your face, and you are not able to chase them away.

Like everybody else who lives here, we could tell you a lot about the Opera House. On one hand it almost feels as a kind of kitsch, but on the other hand you only can love it. You know, I can not imagine Sydney without this building. We like it in the sunshine or in the evening in the floodlights. Either nearby or from far away, so from everywhere it is very eye-catching. The only time when it was a little bit disappointing to us, was when we had such a close look, that we could touch it. Then we realised that it is a large monument, built in the sixties and made of concrete and covered with bathroom-tiles.
Arriving at a concert for the first time also makes you a bit disappointed, when you see that the entrance is under the big stairs. It is dark there, and you can find more concrete inside too. But if you reach the lookout point and the windows, you will have a spectacular view over the city. That is the Sydney we love very very much.
So about the concert…This is my personal experience, and I really do not want to say any bad things about the Opera House. But there is a high risk that you will meet a lot of tourists wearing jeans and T-shirts, sometimes you can see a cyclist as well. It is one of the most famous opera houses in the world, so maybe a lot of people - who generally do not use to go to concerts - go to have a nice experience. Especially, if the program contains a famous work like Vivaldi`s Four Seasons.
The ensemble Europa Galante`s performance was passionate and enjoyable. I do not know why, but every time I was here, I felt that no matter how old and sad the music was, it always seemed very modern and happy in the Sydney Opera House.
The musicians played very well, and maybe it could have been a very nice concert too, but unfortunately it was not. And it happened just because of the public and the Opera House `policy`.
People who do not use to go to concerts clapped their hands when they were not supposed to, and the ensemble had to wait for them, more than what was convenient. But the thing that I really can not understand is why the Opera House ushers let people in when there is a short pause between two pieces. It is evident that they will not find their places in the dark, especially if it is so easy to sit on the wrong seat. This is what happened on Monday too. People coming late started to explain to others that they were sitting on their seats, and it was so annoying and disturbing during the concert.
But of course difficulties continued after the interval. People sitting behind us were chatting too much, too loud sometimes, but I did not believe when they started to sing or lilt the Four Seasons. That was the moment I could not be astonished any more. It was like a real parody and I almost had to laugh about the whole situation.

I think this was only an accident-concert, where also the finale was a bit weird, but hopefully it is not the trend here.  Maybe it happened because the ensemble and the public were not enough in harmony.

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