Preserving the old

Whoops, I missed a blog post yesterday. No post in lieu of Canada Day, and because {insert lame excuse here}.

Today I met with my recruiter to sign some paperwork and show proof that I am who I say I am. Things are formalizing, but there is still one last bit of paper-pushing and signature collecting that my future employer needs to do, which I am told, may take up to 10 days (they're the state government). So, no official celebrating until I get told when I start work :P Fingers crossed that this will happen within the next couple weeks!

Onto the subject of the picture now...

Sydney is a city that embraces its history, going to great lengths to preserve and restore old buildings. In the city centre, the new glass-and-concrete office towers meld seamlessly with the 150-year old stone buildings they are sandwiched between. In the neighbourhood known as The Rocks, archaeological remains dating back to the mid-1700's were found 15 years ago when an excavation crew decided to tear up the ground presumably to build a new youth hostel. Rather than rip apart the foundations of this old house where one of Australia's first European residents lived, they decided to leave the remnants of the old building there, and build the hostel above and around it!

Here's the ground floor of the hostel. How many hostels have architectural remnants in the foyer! (How many hostels even have a foyer?)