Hello Sydney

I am never a fan of big cities, but how could you be in Australia and not visit Sydney? That would be a crime I guess. I am tight on leave, and fortunately my current roster allowed me 4 days off, saving money for Queensland health, and giving me opportunity to explore this beautiful country. Sydney is the first thing which came to my mind when I saw the 4 days off on my roster and flights were quite cheap too. Our flight reached Sydney domestic around 2pm. If you are traveling from Queensland, make sure you sit on the left hand side, to be treated with the beautiful views of the city with the Opera house and the Sydney harbor bridge as you approach landing. From air, in the never ending horizon of houses and buildings, Opera house stood out gleaming in white.

As always the case in Australia, Sydney domestic airport was well signed and easy to navigate. The

domestic airport is connected to the city via the T2 - airport, inner west & south lines. It's now the standard in Sydney to use the Opal card, your single card for all your transport needs in Sydney from trains to buses to ferries. One way trip from domestic airport to city is 15 dollars and using the card in the city for each day is 15 dollars regardless how many trips you make, which I thought was quite reasonable. There are several card types, adult/children/concession. At the airport you can not get the concession cards. Got an Opal card and topped it up with 40 dollars.

Within minutes the train was there and this is the first time I saw an upstair train I guess, I can't
remember seeing an upstair train anywhere else I've been to. The seats of this train was a genius invention I thought. I am sure all of us have experienced that odd situation of sitting facing backwards in a forward moving train. Well you wont have to experience that in the Sydney trains. You can grab the backrest of the seat by its yellow handle and move it so that you could adjust your backrest to the direction the train is moving. No more rewinding scenery... Isn't that great? The train reached city in about 20 minutes. As the train came out of the dark tunnel,  the Sydney harbor bridge and the Opera house were standing there in all their glory, just for you to admire, what a treat!

The hotel, Four seasons is just a walking distance from the Circular Quay station. It is located in a prime spot in the Circular Quay which would allow a new comer to Sydney to explore the city with ease. Staff was very welcoming and the room was very clean with a beautiful view of the harbor. There was a free champagne bottle but to the contrary had you opened one of those water bottles you had to pay 10 dollars, and I opted to drink from the tap. Had a bit of a snooze and it was time to see Sydney!



It was the rush hour, Circular Quay was buzzing with office workers pacing to their homes. For the
first time in Australia I felt the busyness of an Asian city, yet it seemed to be flowing smoothly. It was truly a cosmopolitan city, many different races, accents, languages, what a well mixed sample of busy humans beings. As I walked down the quay the beautiful harbor unfolded in front me. The harbor bridge was on my left and the Opera house was on the right and I walked towards the Opera house. For a split second I was disappointed with the size of the Opera house, it looked smaller to me, I had this image of the Opera house in my head to be a huge building. Probably the brain automatically enlarges the things that I give importance to in my head. The amazing architecture well compensated for the size I had registered in my head. What a masterpiece of an architecture, if you get fed up looking at this building, there's something really wrong with you...

Quay is paved with many different shops, eateries to news paper stands to convenience stores. It is also the platform for many different street artists to display their talent and earn a buck. There was a man sprayed in gold doing the levitating man trick. This is a common trick in many cities I have been to, and I still can't believe why people still get amazed by this, just google it how you do it and you
could do it too! One guy was playing his guitar, another was hitting a small metal dome which gave different notes with each different stroke, don't know what you call that. What struck me the most was the aboriginal artists, one was playing the didgeridoo while another danced and yet another was trying to sell their album for 10 dollars; and if you didn't want to pay 10 dollars, you could give some change in appreciation. This was all with the Opera house on the background, I felt sad for a while for those guys, how ironical...


Anyway, I continued my stroll, and was at the foot steps of the Opera house. I was getting hungry wanted to fuel myself before strolling further. By the water at the basement of the Opera house there are a few cafes, you could order your food from these and sit by the water and have it enjoying the beautiful views of the Opera house and the harbor bridge. Well wasn't that a bad decision... Soon as the chips came, sea gulls flocked around me screeching, trying to attack me to get my chips, not knowing what to do I grabbed a handful of chips for my self and threw away the rest towards the bay, and along with my chips flew away the gulls. So no chips if there are sea gulls around!

After the small snack, stroll continued around the Opera house. People from so many different nationalities were staring at the building, taking pictures from every different angle, selfies, trying to touch the tip of a sail of the opera house etc, isn't it amazing how our love for art can bring people from different walks of lives and different nations together? I was already getting excited for the Opera house tour planned for the following day.


It was time to go back to the hotel, as I reached the hotel, noted there were a few interesting old buildings just next to the sky scraper hotels, and found out that's Rocks, the oldest inhabited area of Sydney. Would explore this area later, but for the time being found a Belgian chocolate bar and ended my day sipping on wonderful Belgian hot chocolate nibbling on a hand made Belgian pastry as the busy Sydney was coming to a rest for the day.

Tips:

• If flying into Sydney airport from Queensland, sit on the left side to get beautiful views of the Opera house with the harbor bridge from air.
• Be careful as to what you are going to eat by the quay if sea gulls are around :)
• Just walk as much as you could, it's a beautiful city to explore.