Pondering Sydney

I normally type my blog entries in about 20 or 30 minutes. For my Sydney entry, I'm now on hour two tonight, and I've started over three times. Why? Well because after years of watching Sydney win every travel award on earth, I came in with very high expecatations – and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the place.

There is a simple way to my heart in big cities. Interesting local food and drink, good transportation to get me around, helpful locals, a nice assortment of places to explore, and prices within reason. Sydney can be maddening on some of these points. 5 million people, and yet it's often 15 minutes between subway trains. Want a 7 day visitors pass for the trains and buses? That will be an eye popping $141. Good, inexpensive local food is difficult to come across, and ditto for relaxed local pubs – the vibe is much more see and be seen, women unable to walk because their heels are so high, and people happily paying $45 for a plate of pasta. And the city neighborhoods don't exude tons of charm – new enough to be ugly, yet somehow old enough to be crumbling.

We have had our bright moments. A friendly waitress pointed us to an unmarked underground pub that served some stellar beers. We had an incredible meat pie topped with mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and gravy at a waterfront institution called Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Another local pointed us to a brilliant little Malaysian place where we waited 30 minutes for a table on a Monday night.

And despite my griping, Sydney does have one undeniable ace up its sleeve – and it's a big one. Quite simply, this is one of the best settings on earth. There is water everywhere, and it's the most perfect complement of beaches, cliffs, and city you can imagine. First you have Sydney Harbour – the iconic Opera House, the massive Sydney Bridge, the beautiful Botanic Gardens. We climbed to the top of the Sydney Bridge today, and I could have watched life go by on this massive harbour for hours. Then you have the coastline – the walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee is just awe inspiring. You alternate from cliffs to beautiful beach coves and then back again for kilometers. We took the ferry to a food and wine festival at Manly Beach over the weekend, the waves crashing as loads of surfers bobbed in the ocean – just 3 miles from city centre.

And the day to day life is very different. People my age ride skateboards around town. Office workers head to the beach at lunch to watch the surfers. Everyone seems to get outside whenever they can, and it's not surprising why -- this is early winter here and yet the days are still predictably bright and warm. You start to see why Sydney wins the awards – and you start to overlook the part time subway system and the extra work it takes to find a decent meal. When you are naturally this good looking, all of these faults suddenly become a lot easier to forgive.