When in Sydney, I noticed the people were all pretty dressed
up for work compared to American standards.
Granted, I was mostly in the 'CBD', central business district - pretty
much what we call downtown.
When in Melbourne, the morning after going to the Aussi Open
and before heading back to Sydney, I chilled in a coffee shop near the Southern
Cross train station, one of the big main stations in Melbourne.
And while I was there around 8:30 till 10 ish, I was blown
away by the amount of peeps all dressed up for work. This may reveal that I seriously need to get
out into the real world back in the US, but seriously. Every time the traffic light changed, swarms
of suits, high heels, mostly black polyester, silk, and other dress-up material
would cross the street coming from the direction of the train station. It amazed me - all the dressed-up-ness and that so many people were coming from the train station. Like an army of work people that kept coming
in droves. All walking to work.
~
Jump forward to that afternoon, back in Sydney. With Marilyn at work till 9pm, and Vladimir
out running errands, I had some free time on my hands. Vladimir encouraged me to go for a bike
ride. I was a little hesitant at first
.... left side of the road, bike I'm not used to, city I'm not used to .... I
kinda started piling up the excuses in my head.
But, with nothing else to do, I headed out. And boy, am I glad I did. I had planned out a route that, on the Sydney
cycling map, was a green dashed line all the way along the Harbor (meaning it
was a separate bike lane along low to medium traffic roads).
I had no idea what a treat I was in for. First, it was a wonderful pedestrian and
cycle trail, with trail map signage every so often. I got to the harbor and was treated to an
awesome view of the Anzac bridge. The
view would pretty much follow me all the way to the part where I actually
crossed the bridge. Once I got closer to
the bridge, there were tons of bikers and runners. Bike commuters on their way home from
work. And, something Marilyn had told me
about but I had yet to experience: people running to and from work, all
sporting those backpacks with the waist and chest straps.... running. Mostly in dri-fit shorts and shirts, with
backpacks. Running, home from work. Impressive.
And, back to those bikers.
Dang!! They be flying'! Going over the bridge, there was a separated
lane for bikers/pedestrians from the main lanes of traffic. Since most people were coming from the city,
traffic in the one direction was pretty heavy.
The bikers, passing walkers and runners, would fly down the other lane
(the one I was conveniently in). It felt
like we were playing chicken, seeing who would ditch first. Of course, they always slid over to their
lane again, sliding right in front of a runner just in time :)
