Posts Tagged With: Sydney Opera House

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

A few days before we left on our trip I happened to notice a tweet that the Sunday we’d be in Sydney was the one day of the year that the famed Opera House held its (free) open house. On my previous visit to Sydney I’d paid to take a tour and hoped to convince my friends that it was worth it but this was even better, even if we did have to line up early on a Sunday morning.

The iconic Sydney Opera House as viewed from the point in front of the Park Hyatt

In the 1950s when Sydney decided an iconic building was needed, a world-wide competition was held. The winner was Jørn Utzon from Denmark. Construction began in 1959 with the podium being finished in 1963, the outer shells in 1967 and the interior work was completed in 1973 – only 10 years overdue and 1457% over budget! Due to conflicts with government officials, Utzon resigned from the project in the mid-1960s and his name was not even mentioned in the building’s grand opening ceremony. However he and his son were asked to help with some remodeling efforts that opened in 2004, completing the reconciliation process between the two parties. Continue reading →