Sydney here we go!! Can you imagine that? We've made it! Three months and 10.000 km later, we are here, on the other side of Australia, at the final point of our trip through this fabulous country! I can't believe it. And this city is so incredible. Sydney! It's there, as magnificent as you imagine it, spendid, grand, impressive. Yeah, that's it. The whole city just says: I am here to impress and that's what I do!
When we first got here, after another long day on the road and the awesome spectacle of a thunderstorm, the city embraced us with all its might. 4.5 million people and everything that comes along with it, from the fabulous cultural diversity and offerings to the smog, noise, and concrete forests. I have to admit, it took me two days to get used to city life again but then we benefited from the advantages as much as we could while trying to sell our dear Josephine (which we finally did three days before departure) and arranging our further travels.
The first thing you'll probably associate the impressive Sydney Opera House. And of course we went there and I did even wear my German shirt, which resulted in us having a discussion with an Australian guy for about an hour and us missing our boat for a visit of the beach... but I was brave and you can see the proof here! We even participated in a tour to get to see the inside of the opera,
which, in my opinion is a lot less expressive than the outside, excpet for the famous concert hall with the organ in it. And you know what the most difficult problem of a backpacker in a place like this is? Well, imagine THE OPERA SYDNEY and then imagine us with our old sneekers, worn out jeans, working T-Shirts, and big baggy sweaters. How the heck do you attend a performance in a place like that dressed like that?!?! But fortunately we where there at the right time, exactly when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra had decided to visit Sydney for the first time in 162 years.
As they were very nice, they did not only perform in the opera but organized a transmission of their performance onto big screens in front of the opera where we were able to enjoy their performance for free! Can you imagine that? The skyline of Sydney in front of us, the opera behind us, above us the sky and the stars and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart (isn't that a nice coincidence that even if I am not in Germany or Austria I can celebrate his 250th birthday???) and Tchaikovsiki?! In the end, some of the players and the maestro even came outside and played there for us. Can you wish for a more special moment?
No, of course, this was perfect. But Sydney in general has so much to offer that we did not get bored one single minute. There all the different parks and botanical gardens, tons of museums (where we enjoyed not only an introduction to Australian painters but also a classic French movie in black and white), art wherever you go (for example a photo exhibition about contemporary Sydney life in one of the parks), festivals and concerts everywhere (for example a three day latin festival and a three day jazz festival), free concerts of bands in pubs, drumming sessions.... I guess we can say that we just lived culture and art here!
Then there were the beaches to explore and the nightlife to relish. I guess we should have shown our beautiful bodies, gone surfing all day long, gotten a sun tan so that we could figure amongst the most fashionable of people going out here at night (seriously, I have rarely seen so many artificial people in my life)... but it was simply too cold yet to enjoy those "pleasures".
So we just went for long walks, took some creative pictures, and went out one evening to finally taste kangaroo and barramundi (local fish) and to celebrate our two-year-anniversary. Of course, we did not chose some place or another, we went to one of the beautiful marinas here, called Darling Harbour and enjoyed not only the delicious meal but also the wonderful view.
What else was Sydney for us, except a fabulous place to enjoy civilization at its best? As I said in the beginning, Sydney also represented the end of our stay here in Australia. We spent the last three months discovering this beautiful continent and now we do have to move on, unfortunately. Not that we are not looking forward to New Zealand - that would be a shame - but we have learnt to love this beautiful country (even though the mosquitos bite you even in the shower.. can you imagine where>!?!?) and, which might be even more important, we have learnt to love the people. Which way-of-life could be better than the Australian "easy-going-itude" or translated their no-worries-mentality? Even if they are way off from any other place in the world (especially Europe), we could now imagine to spend a couple of years here (keine Angst, Mama, es ist noch nichts entschieden) and we are leaving with a smiling and a crying eye! So, as the Aussies would say:
See ya mate! We'll be back! 
Sydney here we go!! Can you imagine that? We've made it! Three months and 10.000 km later, we are here, on the other side of Australia, at the final point of our trip through this fabulous country! I can't believe it. And this city is so incredible. Sydney! It's there, as magnificent as you imagine it, spendid, grand, impressive. Yeah, that's it. The whole city just says: I am here to impress and that's what I do!
When we first got here, after another long day on the road and the awesome spectacle of a thunderstorm, the city embraced us with all its might. 4.5 million people and everything that comes along with it, from the fabulous cultural diversity and offerings to the smog, noise, and concrete forests. I have to admit, it took me two days to get used to city life again but then we benefited from the advantages as much as we could while trying to sell our dear Josephine (which we finally did three days before departure) and arranging our further travels.
The first thing you'll probably associate the impressive Sydney Opera House. And of course we went there and I did even wear my German shirt, which resulted in us having a discussion with an Australian guy for about an hour and us missing our boat for a visit of the beach... but I was brave and you can see the proof here! We even participated in a tour to get to see the inside of the opera,
which, in my opinion is a lot less expressive than the outside, excpet for the famous concert hall with the organ in it. And you know what the most difficult problem of a backpacker in a place like this is? Well, imagine THE OPERA SYDNEY and then imagine us with our old sneekers, worn out jeans, working T-Shirts, and big baggy sweaters. How the heck do you attend a performance in a place like that dressed like that?!?! But fortunately we where there at the right time, exactly when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra had decided to visit Sydney for the first time in 162 years.
As they were very nice, they did not only perform in the opera but organized a transmission of their performance onto big screens in front of the opera where we were able to enjoy their performance for free! Can you imagine that? The skyline of Sydney in front of us, the opera behind us, above us the sky and the stars and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart (isn't that a nice coincidence that even if I am not in Germany or Austria I can celebrate his 250th birthday???) and Tchaikovsiki?! In the end, some of the players and the maestro even came outside and played there for us. Can you wish for a more special moment?
No, of course, this was perfect. But Sydney in general has so much to offer that we did not get bored one single minute. There all the different parks and botanical gardens, tons of museums (where we enjoyed not only an introduction to Australian painters but also a classic French movie in black and white), art wherever you go (for example a photo exhibition about contemporary Sydney life in one of the parks), festivals and concerts everywhere (for example a three day latin festival and a three day jazz festival), free concerts of bands in pubs, drumming sessions.... I guess we can say that we just lived culture and art here!
Then there were the beaches to explore and the nightlife to relish. I guess we should have shown our beautiful bodies, gone surfing all day long, gotten a sun tan so that we could figure amongst the most fashionable of people going out here at night (seriously, I have rarely seen so many artificial people in my life)... but it was simply too cold yet to enjoy those "pleasures". 
So we just went for long walks, took some creative pictures, and went out one evening to finally taste kangaroo and barramundi (local fish) and to celebrate our two-year-anniversary. Of course, we did not chose some place or another, we went to one of the beautiful marinas here, called Darling Harbour and enjoyed not only the delicious meal but also the wonderful view.
What else was Sydney for us, except a fabulous place to enjoy civilization at its best? As I said in the beginning, Sydney also represented the end of our stay here in Australia. We spent the last three months discovering this beautiful continent and now we do have to move on, unfortunately. Not that we are not looking forward to New Zealand - that would be a shame - but we have learnt to love this beautiful country (even though the mosquitos bite you even in the shower.. can you imagine where>!?!?) and, which might be even more important, we have learnt to love the people. Which way-of-life could be better than the Australian "easy-going-itude" or translated their no-worries-mentality? Even if they are way off from any other place in the world (especially Europe), we could now imagine to spend a couple of years here (keine Angst, Mama, es ist noch nichts entschieden) and we are leaving with a smiling and a crying eye! So, as the Aussies would say:
1 comment:
Your story is awesome!
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