What a city! With a population of almost 5 million, it's got flavours of Vancouver, New York, Seattle and Toronto all rolled into one. The people are very friendly, it has hundreds of open air restaurants, there are all kinds of chic, high-end and unique stores and the downtown core includes a botanical garden, the Opera House, Macquarie's Point (that reminds you of Vancouver's Stanley Park) and a fabulous waterfront all situated together:
It's also very cosmopolitan, much like Toronto, except for ethnicity. Apparently there was a White Australia policy making it difficult for Asians, particularly Chinese, from entering and working here. These policies were eliminated in the early 1900s but didn't come into full effect till after WW II with the encouragement of first non-British, then non-white immigration. The colour mosaic is not as pronounced here as it is in Toronto.
We're in a downtown section called Potts Point which is quite upscale except for one rather seedy section about 2 blocks away. Apparently this was a favourite spot for US army personnel who were on leave during the Vietnam war. They frequented 'lady pleasure' shops and along with it brought the drug trade. We now have our bearings and we're staying away from there.
We have tickets to the Opera House tomorrow night so it will be interesting to see it upfront.
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