We spent Sunday shopping, which frankly isn't a big Sydney strength. Sydney has the usual international luxury labels, but the shops are smallish and not that interesting. It's only got one high end department store, David Jones, and a decent selection of homegrown boutiques, but nothing compared to New York, Europe or even Melbourne. The main shopping district is in the CBD, but we're going to explore the CBD in a subsequent trip for blog purposes. Each of the small neighborhoods all over Sydney also has its local shopping area, which are usually cute but small and hard to get to, so not worth the effort for tourists. So that leaves Oxford Street, a big, generally ugly street that carves through Sydney, connecting the CBD to Bondi Beach. The two neighborhoods it cuts through, Paddington and Darlinghurst, are the main gay neighborhoods, so Sydney's famous Mardi Gras parade sashays down Oxford Street every March. Starting from the CBD, Oxford Street is a pretty motley collection of cheap Thai restaurants, gay bars and some very basic shops. After it passes through Taylor Square, ground zero of gay Sydney, the street smartens up, with some nice cafes and restaurants and trendy boutiques.
The area was built up in the late 1800's to house Sydney's growing working class, in row after row of Sydney's now quintessential terrace houses. These Victorian gems remind many people of New Orleans because of the ornate grills on the balconies. A couple decades ago, the area became the center of the gay community, which bought these largely dilapidated homes and restored them to their original beauty.
