Project 289 - Day 62 : I Am So Blue..... In the Mountains That Is

I was anything but blue today. 

Try bright red, orange and yellow, which were the colours adorning a lot of the trees in Leura, where Kerry and I headed for what I jokingly referred to as our "Recovery Party". After three days of Euro kitsch, glitz and OTT glam, we drove 1 1/2 hours west of Sydney, through the lower Blue Mountains, and into one of my favourite places on Earth to go (which is a tad redundant as a phrase since my visits to Mars and Venus have been negligible at best to date so how would I have favourite places there? Think about it.) - LEURA.

I am fairly certain that it's main street is one of the prettiest you will find anywhere, jam-packed with, well, gourmet jam purveyors for a start. Well at least one. Good old Leura Gourmet, which on the weekend when I am normally here, is so busy that getting past it's amazing selection of gourmet foods and out to it's cafe is all but impossible. Today it was a breeze and we had a delicious lunch overlooking the view below - Kerry tucking into an Eggplant Parmagiana (one of her favourite foods ever is eggplant) and me eating the yummiest filet steak sandwich. It was almost so perfect that I didn't want to get up and go anywhere.

But we did, checking out the shops, naturally (Kerry is not a shopper and it is a tribute to her wonderful good nature that she put up with wondering through bookshops, home wares shops, even a Christmas decorations shop. I ended up buying a bright funky abstract painting that was huge and took all of our combined lateral-thinking ingenuity to get into the car (we drove back wedged up against the dashboard which was not OH&S complaint I am fairly sure!!) before we made our way to the object of our trip....

BYGONE BEAUTIES. It's effectively a Teapot Museum - we have the photos to prove it! -, stacked full of 3000 teapots all lined up on shelves that run around the top edges of all the rooms. I had joked to Kerry that she could look at 60 or so but luckily for her the owners had placed them in such a way in all the rooms that I think it's safe to say we saw all of them! Filling the walls and floors of the museum were tea cups, saucers, bric-a-brac, almost all of it for sale. There was lots to see.

Almost too much. But we recovered from the visual overload by having a devonshire tea - which while yummy, marked a worrisome moment when I realised we were eating in a room full of old people....yikes! Have I reached the Safe Old Cafe Stage already?! LOL - and I need to add, in my case, the FIRST EVER CHAI LATTE SERVED IN THE CAFE. Now I am finally famous for something! Well, only the waiter really knows that....and Kerry.... and some of my work colleagues.... but hey, I will grab my 15 minutes wherever they turn up, run with it, and hmm, put it in a blog!

After a delightful time in Leura, chock full of warm fresh scones, jam and cream, we headed back to Sydney, grabbed some dinner at the supermarket (I had trouble walking to it after being jammed into the car like a sardine on a Tokyo commuter train!), were joined by my lovely man, before taking Kerry to the airport for her flight home to BrisVegas. 

I hated saying goodbye - she is my dearest, longest-standing friend, and the most loyal, caring person I have ever known. Without her in my life, the last 25 years would have been far poorer, and I am so glad we got spend this anniversary weekend together.