© irene waters 2014

Looking up at the dome of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney one travels back in time to the late 19th century when architect George McRae built the Romanesque Revival building  as a market place between 1893 and 1898.

© irene waters 2014

Looking down you can see the grand spiral staircase winds down and until the eye is stopped by the beautiful tiles on a lower floor of th building which occupies an entire block near Town Hall Station. It was in a bad state of repair until restoration works were carried out in the late 20th century.

© irene waters 2014

Looking up the mirrored escalator backing reflects the floors below so that you are looking up and looking down at the same time.

© irene waters 2014

Looking down from the top floor where all the ultra expensive shops are you can see the three floors below The friend I was with told me how she and her husband on their last trip looked in a jewellery shop on this level at rings. One for $30,000 appealed and the assistant insisted she try it on despite my friend’s protestations “But I have really bad arthritis and rings are difficult to get off.” The shop assistant insisted it would not be a problem and the ring was put on her finger. With a plane to catch and an expensive ring  stuck on her finger it turned into a bit of a circus as they apparently tried everything with eventual success to get it off.

We decided we would just look up and look down.

http://travelwithintent.com/2014/03/12/orchid-festival-kew-2014/