Our first day in Adelaide is Sunday and we sleep the day away after an unplanned four-day travel adventure including Johannesburg, Dubai and Sydney, delayed planes and rugby tournaments. The piece de resistance is Saturday night. We spend it in a Sydney McDonalds in a five-hour chat with a Jewish man from Auckland, New Zealand and traveling to Tel Aviv to marry by the Wailing Wall.
After sleeping on a plane for two nights and chatting for one we are exhausted by the time we take the bus from the airport. After the bus empties our bus driver goes out of his way to take us almost to our door…such a kind welcome to our new city.
We awake Monday in our little Adelaide house, Casa Tango, formerly a worker’s row house. Our house is within the one mile square of land that marks the city center. Our street is quiet but there is everything we need; grocery, pharmacy (chemists, here), library and coffee shops and restaurants right around the corner. No laundrette though, ah well.
Dana and I acclimate differently to new environs. Dana wants to go out and discover where he is exactly. I like to settle in and discover my new house generally. Somehow we manage to accommodate both needs on our first day. We unpack, move in and then set off to meander and get our first feel of Adelaide.
Wisteria in bloom
On our walk we discover broad avenues lined with trees and parks, vine-covered Victorian cottages and amazingly well-preserved historic buildings holding homes, museums, businesses, restaurants, shops and markets. Adelaide is the “city of churches” and we see many on our walk to be visited on another day.
The feel of Adelaide is “arms open” and, after Sicily and South Africa, very, very fast. People walk and talk quickly. Dana and I find ourselves struggling to keep up. We absorbed more of the slow and sunny Sicilian spirit than we realized.
On Monday night the owners of Casa Tango, Jill and Paul, come over to welcome us and bring a half-dozen eggs from their hens. They live in the street behind us, a 42 second walk door-to-door. They are delightful and welcome us warmly with great good spirits.
We are so looking forward to the new adventure…Adelaide.
MedFlies 