When we found out that there was a horse race this weekend at the Royal Randwick track we quickly put off our plans to go to Newcastle and started preparing for our new adventure. There wasn't much preparation though, which is good for last minute decisions.
Before I go on with this post I should touch on Foxfields. It is a horse race in Charlottesville at the end of April that is attended by students from UVA, JMU, UMD, Georgetown, etc. Basically, it is a bunch of preppy, dressed up, and (mostly) drunk college kids "watching" horses. There are sundresses and big hats, seersucker, bowties. It's crazy yet amazing. I'll just say I've been there twice and I don't think I've seen horses either time. Anyway, it's a lot of fun and it has a great southern feel and it's just a Virginia tradition.
So getting back to Sydney, my roommates Laura and Vanessa took it upon themselves to go pick up a few bottles of bubbly and some orange juice for the morning festivities. Our day started nice and early with getting all pretty, putting on dresses and heels and such, and then making mimosas! Luckily there were no major Ottomanelli Christmas Champagne incidents, aka we didn't break anything via flying corks, but it was close. There are six of us living here and initially we had 6 wine glasses but one mysteriously broke so I had to drink my classy mimosa out of the free Ice Age 3 color changing cup I got at McDonalds. (Don't get me wrong, I love the cup. It is yellow and when you put cold liquid in it, there is a dinosaur that turns red! Jackie Dolan, I know how jealous you are right now.)
So at about 12pm we headed over to the tracks. Since we didn't really know where we were going we decided to just take a cab there because apparently it was only going to be about $15 and there were 4 of us in the cab. I sat in the front seat of the cab and yes, I did try to open the driver's door. Still getting used to this whole driving on the opposite side of the road thing... The ride was short which is much different from the terrible ride to Foxfields. We went inside and actually got right next to the track. I actually saw horses as soon as I got there! I decided against betting on horses because I couldn't bet on #9 (sorry, that's a joke for my Dad). We met a bunch of Aussies who were telling us about the races while mocking/imitating our accents. My roommate Gina and I were joking around with them the entire day and it was a lot of fun.
Unlike Foxfields where it is normally about 90 degrees, it was about 60 degrees today. So when the sun went down we took a bus home. But this was the general impression I got from the day: Foxfields+15 years. Everyone was older and just a little more dressed up. Fewer sundresses and more cocktail-like dresses. Definitely more sophisticated, but nothing will ever be like Foxfields.
Peace, love, and bedtime.
Lara
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment