My trip to Sydney was an absolute blast. And I’m exhausted. I flew out of Brisbane on Wednesday morning and I just got home a few hours ago.
but it feels good to be home. that's right. i now refer to brisbane as home. don't worry though, toronto will always be HOME-home.
DAY 1.
The flight to Sydney went over without a hitch.
I even made it through the metal detector in one try.
I don’t think I told you guys this but during my flight from Toronto to Sydney, I had to walk through the metal detector at least a half dozen times. It kept beeping! On top of removing everything from my pockets, I had to remove my wristwatch, take my belt off and even take my shoes off! It was like that kayne west video “all falls down”. I thought I was either going to have to strip down to my socks or they were going to run me through the x-ray machine!
ANYWAYS…
I made my way from the airport to the city via a quick 11-minute train ride. (Toronto really needs to have the subway link to the airport; enough of this bus to the airport business). When the train pulled in, I was amazed to notice that it was a double decker train. As you walk into the car, there are stairs that lead up and down. I decided to go down. It’s kind of cool. Your eye level is at the feet of the people waiting on the platform. But as quickly as I was impressed with the whole double decker deal, I also noticed the smell and the dirt of the subway car. The best way to describe sydney’s trains is to say that they remind me of the ones in new york. If you’ve ever been on the subway in new york city, you know what I mean.
i then made my way from the trains to the bus stops to catch the bus to my friend’s place. As I walked through a long tunnel, all I could think about was how fast everyone was walking! After spending the past 3 months of my life living in the SUBURBS of Brisbane, I felt like a country boy in the city.
After dropping my stuff off at julie’s place, she gave me a tour of the university of Sydney.
So this is the Fischer library. It is said to have the biggest collection of books in the southern hemisphere. It doesn’t look worthy of having such a title.
Don’t you love aussies and their sense of humour?
It was kind of weird walking around thinking that this could’ve very well been MY campus.
Afterwards, I headed north towards the city and the quays.
I took the requisite pictures in front of the opera house and the harbour bridge.
that's the harbour bridge in the background. now i was initially planning to climb the harbour bridge but it was so expensive. to climb it during the day it's something like $160. if you want a romantic twilight climb, that price jumps up to $240. what the heck? it just wasn't worth it.
and the famous opera house.
Here’s a tip for all of you that are traveling by yourself.
When asking a stranger to take a picture for you, try and pick someone that is carrying a REAL camera. I’m talking about one of those SLR camera and not the point-and-shoot ones that everyone above the age of 12 has. Trust me. It’s worth the extra effort. A real photographer will take the effort to at least centre the picture for you. I have so many pics that were taken by strangers in which I or the building is not centered and/or cut-off.
i spent the rest of the day walking around sydney.
sydney's got so many beautiful buildings. here is just a little snippet.
this is sydney town hall. it's not a town hall where they hold town meeting and stuff like that - but perhaps they did a long time ago.
it's actually used for organ concerts. it's got this HUGE organ. i am told that the grand organ has 8,000 pipes!
chandelier hanging in the foyer of town hall.
i walked up and down and all over sydney. i felt like i had walked half way across the world. and on several occasions, i thought i was back in toronto.
later that day i met up with julie for some much needed korean food.
we decided to go for korean bbq. needless to say, it was good!
we then took a little stroll down to darling harbour. pictures really don't do this place justice.
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