In Europe, almost every big city you go to you can find free walking tours, usually run by students and paid for by tips. I go on these tours quite a bit - its a good way to meet other people, learn about the city you're in, see different parts that you might not venture to on your own, and so on. So in coming back to Sydney, I looked online to see if there was something similar. You know, I've lived there my whole life and know very little about the history of Sydney... so I found a walking tour and went on it!
I was up really early and caught the bus into the city with my friend and we had breakfast near her work, which was lovely. From there, I walked down to Barangaroo. This area hadn't been built when I left and it was entirely changed from what I remember being there... Plus it looked a bit like some of the bars and clubs had gone, which is a sad indictment of the Sydney nightlife these days. I went exploring the park there, then walked up through the rocks, past some old familiar places I remembered. It was then 10am and time to join the tour outside Town Hall.
I won't write much about the tour because I abandoned it early, but I will just say that I was disappointed that they didn't go into much history and also just covered the more boring parts of Sydney. I was hoping for one more similar to the one I went to in Riga, where they took us away from the stuff we probably would see anyway and taught us about interesting parts of that city. We were in Hyde Park and I popped out the back of the tour and walked towards the Strand. Sorry dude.
I think the Strand Arcade looked even prettier seeing it with my new European perspective; it really is a lovely building.
From there, I walked down George St to Surry Hills. If anywhere in Sydney reminded me of London, it was definitely Surry Hills. Maybe not quite London but it's definitely more European... and damn its a gorgeous area! Full of beautiful houses, interesting architecture, colourful graffiti and cool businesses. I'd never really spent a lot of time in Surry Hills before - I'd been to a few job interviews there, and to a bar or two but that's it. So it was really nice to spend the time to actually have a good look around.
I stopped in to the Blacksmith cafe for lunch and had an amazing-looking burger before continuing on, but I finally called it quits mid afternoon and looked for a bus back home. Only not back home, because I had to go to my friend's house and pick up my car and those buses are not as common outside of peak hour. Honestly, Sydney transport.....