Sydney was by far my favorite city that we have visited thus far. I was in awe of the big city feel surrounded by beautiful harbors and beaches in addition to trendy restaurants and shops on every corner. I enjoyed every aspect of our time at Sydney from our day at Bondi beach to our nights at Flickerfest to our tour of the Opera House and so much more. Throughout our five day stay, I learned so much about the city of Sydney and its unique history. I was especially interested in learning about the history of the Opera House during our Opera House tour. I was shocked to hear that the building of it was estimated to cost seven million dollars when in reality it ended up costing one hundred and two million dollars. In addition, instead of taking the estimated four years to build, it took fourteen. Despite these surprises, the people of Sydney found it all quite worth it as it now an internationally recognized Australian icon and is one of the most popular attractions in Sydney city. I was also surprised to know that the design of the iconic Sydney Opera House was originally chosen through a design competition. 233 designs were submitted for the Opera House international design competition held in 1956. Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect, was announced the winner in 1957, receiving ₤5000 for his exceptional design. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the revolutionary construction of the Sydney Opera house that made it one of the most recognized buildings in the world and seeing the intricate details that make it the attraction it is today.
In addition to the Opera house, we learned a lot about various films shot in the city. Right when we got to Sydney, we immediately took a bus to see the famous Great Gatsby mansion which is actually the International College of Management. Although it was a stunning sight, I was surprised to see that it did not look much like the mansion from the film. I soon learned that in order to make it how it looked in the movie, the front stairs and the entranceway were changed; gravel was put down, the fountains and pond were put in, ivy was put up the building to the second floor, and the turreted top of the mansion was created on computer, based on real buildings. A couple days later on our walking tour of the city, our quirky guide took us around Sydney and showed us various places that the Matrix and Superman Returns were filmed such as the 35-story building that Morpheus leaps from in Matrix and the infamous fountain shown in Superman Returns. We also learned that when Sydney is used as a filming location, it is almost never the actual location in the movie unless it is being destroyed. Most of the time when films show Sydney, they are using it to display apocalyptic scenarios. I found this extremely interesting, and it made me wonder what movies I have seen that I didn’t realize took place in the wonderful city of Sydney. Overall, I absolutely loved Sydney and know that I will be back to see more.
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