Friday, June 11, 2010

Variations On A Theme: Postcards from Sydney

Weather cooperated today for a better visit to the Botanical Gardens. These aren't my photos, but rather images culled from the web that offer what was enjoyed today.


One of the attractive things about them is the fact that they are situated just beside downtown. For better or for worse, comparisons are inevitable. As a lover of cities, I couldn't help but be reminded of other urban green spaces that jut up against tall buildings. Central Park comes to mind, as does Grant Park
.

And yet the truly remarkable thing about the Gardens is that, in addition to a city skyline, they border a harbor, a beautiful harbor. Here is a view walking away from the Opera House.


Here is view walking towards it. In addition to their city and harbor side setting, they are next to Sydney's perhaps most famous structure, which is more than an opera house. It's a fully equipped center for the performing arts with a concert hall and theater. In this, it's like the Kennedy Center and the Met. (I'll be seeing Waiting for Godot here next week.)



The Botanical Gardens are also home to what are here often referred to as "flying foxes," otherwise known as bats, fruit bats to be precise. During the day they're mostly napping upside down in the trees.


Except when they're not.




This particular view of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge---the combination of these two structures is really iconic for Sydney---from the Botanical Gardens is probably the view I enjoyed the most today. I was fortunate to find this very view on the web. It's something else, isn't it?



And then there are the views from a ferry. We took one from Sydney to Manly. At the risk of further comparisons, it reminded me, say, of taking the ferry from San Francisco to Sausalito.





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And if one were a bat or a bird:






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