*Acres upon acres of immaculately kept public gardens, a greenway that stretches from the Anzac museum in Hyde Park all the way down to the Opera House. We could have been a contender, with The Commons!
*The Opera House: Yorn Utzon was a relatively unknown 38-yr-old architect when he won the design contest (1957). The shell shape was impossibly difficult, yet he figured out how to built it by fitting its “sails” on a sphere.
Up close, the tiles are actually yellow-white-yellow. Otherwise, the white would be blinding. 
Cedar interior and exterior glass angled to reflect the bridge if you look up
Eureka moment in engineering
In 1966, after delays and ballooning costs (7 million estimated, ultimately over $100 million), he was fired and went home to Denmark. It wasn’t until his 90s that he was awarded the Pritzker Prize for this World Heritage site. Utzon never saw it finished.
*Efficient, comprehensive train system and amazing public gyms and pools, one built under the plaza in front of the iconic St. Mary’s Church.
Great swim outing! 
The “Icebergs” saltwater pool sits just above Bondi Beach.
*Free entry to museums (moving WWI ANZAC memorial, Art Gallery of New South Wales). The erasure of a generation of young ANZAC troops in WWI is one of the saddest stories I know. Of the fewer than five million people in Australia, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Of all the dead, only two bodies were brought back for burial in Australia.
We walked into this monument not knowing what we would find when we looked down.
*Vibrant art scene: we attended opening night at the ballet (a triptych of dances, “Verve”). We sat and watched outdoor rehearsals that same day for the Opera Company’s “West Side Story.”
*“Family Sundays.” We took the train into Circular Quay and the ferry all the way up to Watson’s Point for lunch at the beer garden; cost=$2.50 apiece.
*Potts Point: Our “cozy” Air BnB was a four-story walk-up with a dingy staircase, but we had a big window that looked out over the city and a shared rooftop terrace!
*Kind people, from our charismatic Opera House guide (whom we ran into two days later at the Governor’s House) to the traffic cop at the airport who happily escorted us to a “safer” place when he found us illegally parked and floundering for directions.