Finally the time arrived for us to visit Australia's most
well known city: the home of the 2000 Olympic games, a good name for a girl, made
even more famous by that movie about the little clownfish that could: Sydney,
Australia. I bet if I walked down the streets of D.C. Doing a Jay Leno style
walkabout interview that 9 of 10 people would tell me Sydney is the capital of
Australia. I used to think the same as well, but in fact that would be a few
hours north in Canberra. Fun fact of the day.
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| Balcony View |
Sydney has always been my quintessential image of an
Australian City. That image of course is I think the stereotypical American
image of Down Under: famous buildings, beautiful beaches, SURFING, Kangaroos
everywhere, and tons of culture and shit. Except for the kangaroos, Sydney has
all of that, and an above average number of adult playgrounds throughout the
city. Talk about an added bonus.
In almost every
conversation I've had with an Australian in the US or abroad, Sydney gets
mentioned. Usually because I bring it up after I discover trying to talk about
kangaroos, koalas, and platypuses is a conversation killer with the ladies.
Whenever I mention Sydney, Australians are typically quick to let me know that
Sydney is overrated. They say places like Melbourne and Adelaide have “heaps”
more culture and are way more worth a visit. I feel like I can relate a little
bit to their attitude though. Whenever I meet people abroad who want to visit
the US for the first time they say they dream of going to California, or NYC,
or DC. I always try and tell them about how those places are overly touristy
and instead they should check out a relatively unknown, but great American
Tradition: my hometown of Ijamsville. There tourists can enjoy Dunkin Donuts,
check out our local emu farm, and enjoy an endless number of opportunities to
go cow tipping- a more real American experience.
Due to the subpar
reviews I've received of Sydney in the past, I arrived with a bit of an
inherent bias Maybe it wouldn't be that good. Maybe kangaroos don't roam freely;
maybe Australians don't actually say “G'day Mate! I'll put another shrimp on
the barbie!” (They don't, as far as I can tell by the way.) But now that I've
visited and experienced Sydney life, I’m pretty much an expert and I am excited
to report back.
Despite the lack of shrimps on barbies and wild 'roos, I
think Sydney is a phenomenal city. Green parks interspersed with waterways and
harbors, a gorgeous beach, AND most importantly: a double decker metro system.
#Winning. We only stayed for two days, but the weather was amazing and we had
enough time to hit some of the major attractions in the city.
The Sydney Harbor Bridge (or Harbour Bridge for the Aussie's
and English out there) is the fifth largest single arch bridge (or something
impressive sounding like that) in the world. I have the engineering IQ of a
goldfish, but even I can appreciate the engineering feat behind such excellent,
British bridge construction. Kindly funded by the rents, we did “The Bridge
Climb,” an excessively touristy and ridiculously expensive (seriously I could
have bought 5 new pairs of shoes for the price) climb up the Harbor Bridge to
the summit. Conquering my aforementioned fear of heights, and following in the
footsteps of such famous individuals like Ron Burgundy, Laurence “Morpheus”
Fishburne, everyone's favorite champion of climate change Al Gore, that
rebellious redhead recently caught holding the crown jewels, Prince Harry, and
the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, we successfully conquered the 1000 steps of the
Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was everything you'd expect (except windy):
spectacular views offering a complete panorama of the city. In fact, I was
pretty sure I could see California in the distance. At the risk of sounding
like an infomercial, the whole tour is three hours from start to finish, very
safe, and all participants receive a free hat, the value of which cannot be
overestimated. Despite the price tag, if you are in Sydney this is definitely a
worthwhile stop. AND it was listed on Facebook as 100 things to do before you
die. STATUS UPDATE!
If you visit the bridge, you have to see the Opera House.
Literally, they are right next to each other. As someone famous once said “The
Sydney Opera House is the best opera house in the world.” Of course, I've seen
pictures of the Opera House and naturally I watched Santa fly by the Opera
House on NORAD Tracks Santa every Christmas Eve until I was 20, (I know
someone out there did as well), but now that I've seen it live, I have to say
that it's a very ballsy design. A landmark like that takes some kahunas. Designed by a Danish architect, he (whose
name I've conveniently forgotten but probably sounds like Lars), like all good
Scandinavians, ate a piece of fruit every day and the design of the opera house
was inspired by the peels of his orange. AND, all of the different "peels" of the opera house can be folded into a perfect sphere. Thus, from the skin of Florida's best
export was born one of the world's greatest landmarks. Funnily enough, during
construction, like all good massive construction projects, the Opera House was
at one point years behind schedule and millions over budget, with the
government considering closing the project down. Lars the architect moved back
to Denmark in protest and because he couldn't stand the more than 2 hours of
sunshine on offer in Sydney during the winter months. As they say, the rest is
history and the opera house eventually completed construction in 1973. Sadly
though, Lars never forgave the government and he never returned to Australia to
see his completed masterpiece before he died. He probably should have eaten
more fruit and he might have lasted longer.
Sydney is great. I can understand the arguments for the
overly touristy nature of the city and the lack of genuine culture. These
things can be applied to all major cities around the world. The unique
landmarks, the waterfronts, and the general atmosphere of the city make it
absolutely awesome in my opinion. I'll go back any day.
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| Thursday afternoon, 2pm. Just another working day |
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| World famous surf, Bondi Beach |
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