I like … Sydney

After hearing divergent opinions about it, – in the sense that Melburnians like Melbourne better, Canberrans like Canberra, some Sydneyans like Melbourne, some like Sydney, non-aligned foreigners stay neutral because they want to go into the outback and see, if crocodiles are more dangerous than 21st century traffic, – I decided I had to start from somewhere, why not from Sydney, where I already know someone?

First thing you do, when you get to Sydney, you post the skyline on Facebook, so everybody knows you are there.

This is not the pic I posted on FB, here I’m getting closer to the city already

Second thing you can’t stop taking pictures of is Sydney Harbour Bridge

I shot hundreds of pictures of the Opera House and The Bridge, from all sides, left / right / inside / out, underneath, above, close up, far away, I just couldn’t get enough. I was fascinated, the two constructions had cast a spell on me, the lens of my camera was drawn to them like a magnet.

I didn’t go inside at first, reserved the guided tour (37 Oz bucks) for my last days in Sydney

Tried to have them both in one picture plus a picturesque tree in front (in all, not really brilliant)

And soon you realize that Sydney isn’t just made up of skyscrapers, it’s a mix of the old and the new, obviously not like in Rome and other ancient cities, the difference between old and new not being 2000 years but more or less 200, but still! The “old” houses and churches, from colonial Georgian over neo-Gothic, Victorian and post – WWar II styles are a charming surprise among the tall, shiny towers.

The Old and the New

View of “The Rocks” (historic quarter)

Cadman’s cottage

Campbell’s Cove (ITALIAN VILLAGE!!!)

Downtown: St. Philip’s (lots of churches between the skyscrapers)

Suncorp Place, regular skyscraper

facades

CVB (obvious, short for Queen Vic Building, Romanesque Revival, impressive on the outside, expensive inside!)

Her Majesty Queen Victoria (here as “patron” of young Asian artists)

St. Mary’s Cathedral (Gothic Revival, awe-inspiring) photographed by Asian tourists with the same enthusiasm as Cologne Cathedral 😉

Something funny, something historical, something sad

..it happens or is this art?

still in use

Observatory (very old, don’t remember how it works)

Clear rules

Rules are …

… rules

ANZAC Memorial (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, they didn’t miss a war)

Sad History

Barangaroo didn’t trust the white colonists that had arrived from overseas from the start. As Bennelong’s second wife she opposed her husband’s being an interlocutor with the British. Most of the Gadigal people are believed to have died of smallpox (epidemic 1789)

The park is nice, the Gadigal people aren’t there

would have been nice to meet …

… a soul

And at the end of the chapter, as does the Lonely Planet (not that I’m putting myself at the same level), the question is “how to get there and how to get around”. It’s easy! You can ask your cousin to take you there by car. Not every day! Parking is about:  ½–1 hour: $8 and that’s probably budget. No, you don’t want to waste money like that. You get yourself an OPAL card,

quote: “Opal makes getting around on public transport easy. To travel anywhere from the Blue Mountains to Bondi, or Goulburn to Scone, all you need is an Opal card.”

It’s a smart card, you only pay for what you get: long trip – more money, short trip – less money. So far, so good. You get on the bus, you tap on, there are beautifully coloured readers everywhere on the bus, you hold your card against it and you have started paying; you get off the bus, you tap off, you hold the card against the reader and you have payed for your trip. The problem starts, if you forget to tap off or you don’t tap successfully, then the card is smarter than you and you pay until the end of the route. I found out the hard way. Another thing: you have to learn where to get on and where to get off. So there are stops, where people get on and there are stops, where people get off. If you, not being familiar with the system, try to get off at a get-on-bus-stop, you cause confusion to the local expert users of this sophisticated system. I managed to give the bus driver and fellow travelers an excellent example of foreign simplicity on my last bus ride. Next time I’ll know better.

And they help keep the city clean

Love to all of you until the next letter

Gerburg