We wanted to spoil Mum for her birthday, so we all headed into the city. It was the first time that we've taken the Northwest Sydney Metro, a train line in Sydney that took away easy access for us into the city for over a year. We were kind of excited to see how quickly this new Metro would get us into the city, especially on a weekend where there was track work.
Prior to this new train line, we had two ways of getting into the city. The "long way", which has been the age-old method of going through Meadowbank, etc and ending up going all the way around through Strathfield and then onto the CBD. When the new line opened up a few years ago, we had a much shorter track, through Chatswood and on to the North Shore line. Both of these routes involved one train and no transfers.
Ever since this Metro system (in the North West) has been up and running, there seems to be almost weekly trackwork- should this not have been implemented at the opening of the line? A question that I've been asking for ages. And since the Metro was actually running on this day, we gave it a test. The first, and most annoying, aspect of the new Metro, is that it now takes 3 trains to get into the city via the Northern Line through Chatswood. And yes, the Metro goes a bit faster, but what about all that waiting at Epping and Chatswood stations waiting for a connecting train? Suffice to say that we weren't overly impressed. Yes, the new Metro provides a train line for suburbs farther out that never used to have a train, but it hasn't made our commute better- at all.
In the city, we went to the Rocks Markets. It was marketed as the Christmas markets, but to us, it seemed like just the old regular market. Don't get me wrong, there is some cool stuff there, but it wasn't that "Christmassy". There was a great Disney artwork display, and our highlight (strange as it might seem), was the corn on the cob. With a little salt and butter, they're delicious!
Around Circular Quay, there were the usual entertainers, and we had a nice lunch at Buckley's, a restaurant by the Quay. Except for the seagulls that tried to poop on us and steal our food.
I know it's not quite December, but the holiday season is just around the corner. We look forward to more festive cheer in this city.
Just be prepared that public transport takes awhile.
Until next time,
D