How To Enjoy A Walking Tour Of Sydney

By Author: Leura Zones
Total Articles: 38
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Looking out of the window as the plane taxied to a stop at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport, I couldn't help remembering what the guy next to me had said during the trip. All we seemed to was compare cheap flights. By the way, he's Australian and they are fiercely proud people so I forgave his, well I called it exaggeration. According to him, Sydney is one of the most important cities in this new century. Yeah right, I said to myself but then aloud I asked him why he feels so and with a confident (smug to me!) smile, he told me to wait and see for myself. Well, having travelled all the way from London on one of the cheap flights Sydney could bet I had every intention of seeing for myself! It didn't take much time to start getting a positive impression; the airport is really busy and professionally run not to mention efficiently. By having a large volume of cheap flights Sydney was obviously getting high tourist traffic.

One of the most obvious features of the Sydney society is its cosmopolitan outlook. Well, that was something ...
... that my fellow passenger had mentioned on the plane; a large portion of the Sydney population was born abroad. Till this day, the extremely diverse nature of Sydney's population is evident in its culture, food and other facets of the society. Well, we can agree on that one after all we had argued when we tried to compare cheap flights in London and Sydney.

Anyway, I decided to do a walking tour of Sydneyat my leisure and not following any particular pattern. I figured that this would suit me perfectly well and I would also get to see and experience things rather than follow a laid down trail for tourists. So, I set out for the ANZAC Memorial. The major intention I had of visiting the Memorial was to see the eternal flame and I did but not without seeing up close the statue close to entrance of the Memorial. It depicts grieving women carrying a dead soldier. Somehow, this statue struck me deeply; the sadness of it maybe or the fact that women are carrying the man contrary to norm.

The General Post Office, popularly known as GPO remains a central point in Sydney in terms of its geography and it is very obvious that there have been serious efforts at giving it a facelift and the Pitt Street Mall was my next stop. It seems all of Sydney shops there! Wow! The place just bustles with people and activities. I left there and made my way to the Queen Victoria Building for no particular reason other than to feast my eyes on the Victorian architecture both externally and internally. It's amazing how such architecture has been preserved.

The Chinese Garden of Friendship is one quiet place in Sydney and after the hustle and bustle of the Pitt Street Mall, I really enjoyed the serenity of the garden. I really find it hard to tell what exactly made me hungry; the long walk, the scenes that my eyes had to feast on or the serenity of the Chinese garden. Anyway, I needed to eat and Sydney's Chinatown wasn't too far from the garden so I made my way there. A Chinese meal seemed to be a nice way to end the day especially after the beauty of the Chinese garden.