From a bus shelter, Elizabeth St, on a very quiet Sunday afternoon. This is the heart of the city. In cities like Paris it would be teeming with people out walking at this time (3:27 pm) on a Sunday. The first time I went to Paris and was walking about on Sunday afternoon I thought there must be an "event" on because so many people suddenly appeared on the streets. And then I realised it was just singles, couples, and whole families out for a walk after completing their Sunday lunch. In Sydney, by contrast, most people live in the suburbs, and will be at home relaxing, maybe entertaining with a barbecue, or reading on the sofa, or out enjoying the waterways, beaches, parks.
Massive contrast with 24 hours earlier, Sally. But this part of the city has little to see. The Quay and The Rocks would have been busier.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
ReplyDelete....but we don't just "walk" much - for the same of strolling, seeing and being seen being a flaneur. And this is just round the corner from Martin Place, and even there, not many people. Of course, cafes don't open in this "business" part of the city.
ReplyDeleteSome places in Paris are more lively than others on Sundays but this picture of Sydney is particularly desperately quiet!
ReplyDeleteVery few people actually live within the city itself and we don't have the tradition of passeggiata that the Italians do. Even down by the Quay its predominately tourists.
ReplyDeleteOh ... two words/terms I do not know in that lot but I gather they mean strolling leisurely.
ReplyDeleteCity living is not the norm in Australia/Sydney - most people live in the suburbs. I agree that down at the Quay and The Rocks it is mainly tourists and yobbos clustered around pubs.
I wonder if one were to eliminate the tourists from the head-count of strollers in both Paris and Rome, how many locals would be left. More than in Sydney I agree ...
Where do people stroll in Sydney? I'm not sure they do. People walk around Centennial Park. They walk the Coastal Walk. They have lunch at Kirribilli and at Balmoral. But there is not much strolling to walk the effects off or to be seen ... or to enjoy the life of the city.
When I was growing up there was a lot of strolliing through the Domain on a Sunday to listen to the tub-thumpers - but that has all gone now.
Sad really ... people walk along Southbank in Melbourne ... oops ...
London streets are nearly always busy and crowded. I guess that's understandable with 12million people
ReplyDeleteSo Sydney's residents live out in the 'burbs? That's how it is in most cities over here in the US as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the name of the street at least! :D
but most of them are in their respective Sunday Sports Church Sally, that is why our streets are so quiet!
ReplyDeletelol@ Bonnie.
ReplyDelete