This was a day long in the making. On 4 August, Sebastian, Hermione, and we booked tickets to a screening of the 1985 classic Back to the Future featuring live music performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
The performance started at 2 pm, but we had to fetch the tickets at least half an hour before then. So we went on the train to Sydney at about 9:15 am.
We arrived in Sydney at 12:40 and walked to the Opera House where we fetched our tickets. Outside the Opera House, people were preparing a small market, so we bought lunch there to eat while we waited for Sebastian and Hermione. Across the bay, an enormous cruise ship was anchored. Next to it, some of the big structures in the city didn’t seem so big anymore.
We ate our lunch and after Linnea went to find a coffee. While she was away, Sebastian and Hermione arrived and the time until the performance was getting shorter. On her way back to the Opera House entrance with coffee in hand, Linnea was stopped by a guy probably in his thirties who was working as a fight scene coordinator for the television show Game of Thrones. The guy, or rather his friend, had apparently been ‘stunned’ when Linnea walked past them. So he felt like he had to talk to her. They wondered if she could meet up later for a coffee. Although it was a testament to how stunning Linnea is (Gustav writing here), it was not the right time to chat. She explained the situation and hurried back to the entrance.
A few minutes before the performance started, we hurried up the stairs to the Concert Hall to take our seats on row L. Because of the screen setup the stage had been extended to fit the whole orchestra. Since parts of the screen could have been obstructed by the orchestra from the point-of-view from row L, we got a good price when buying the tickets. Fortunately, we could all see the screen and some of the orchestra. Our seats were pretty much front and center.
The conductor was a man, probably in his thirties, who was charming and jokingly talked to the audience to introduce the performance. The orchestra started playing the main theme of the movie before it started. It was interesting to look at the conductor especially when the movie started. On a small screen next to the score the conductor could see the movie with cues appearing or moving across the screen to indicate when he should cue the orchestra.
In theater tradition, the performance had an intermission in the middle when we could go out and stretch our legs. We took the opportunity to go out and get a few photos of the four of us together. As we wanted to make this, our one, visit to Sydney Opera House special, we had dressed up for the occasion. A man aided us and took our pictures.
We went back in and took our seats when the signal started sounding. The second half was also very enjoyable. The four of us thought it was really nice to see the movie. Sebastian and the both of us had seen Back to the Future before while it was the first time for Hermione. But it was quite some time since the two of us had seen it, so it was nice to refresh our memories as well.
After the performance, we walked to an Italian restaurant called Fratelli Fresh where Hermione had made a reservation. We ordered pizzas and a pasta dish. The pizzas at the restaurant were a bit quirky, they had one with black truffles and an egg on it, which Linnea had to try. The food tasted really good and we had a lovely time talking to each other.
When we had finished dining, we couldn’t help but try out an ice cream place Hermione recommended for dessert. We bought some exotic flavours there as well, this time Gustav got popcorn ice cream with salted caramel flavour. Later we headed to the trains at Circular Quay, and the two of us started our journey back to Newcastle.
/ G & L
