Day 2: Sydney

I spent the day exploring Sydney; the Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay, Botanical Gardens, Opera House and the Business District in the heart of the city. 
I went on a free tour of The Botanical Gardens which was amazing because the Gardens just celebrated 200 years of being open & growing! The gardens used to house the Garden Palace, but only for 3 years. It was built in 1879, but burnt down only three years later in 1882 for "unknown causes." They never rebuilt it because of the sheer cost, but the garden still has the Government House, which is where the Governor of NSW resides. The gardens have been a "Non-Smoking" venue since they opened because they are considered the "Lungs of the city," and they need to be protected. In comparison to the large parks that we have in the US similar to the Botanical Gardens here in Sydney, Central Park has only been smoke free for 5 years. 
In the afternoon I went on a the "Welcome Walking Tour" which was free, and led by a native Australian man named Gino. He was actually the first Australian I talked to on my trip, because every person I met in my hostel, and in shops and on the streets, were all tourists. A majority of them being from Germany, Asia, or the UK. On the free walking tour, I met a family from Italy who was on holiday and I started talking to them about my project. They said that none of them smoked, but that there were definitely a lot more smokers in Italy than in Australia. The father in the family said he remembers when the smoking ban for public places was first implemented back in 2005, a lot of restaurants and bars actually didn't follow the law, but when the national rate of heart attacks started to decrease, more and more people did start to follow the ban and make their restaurants smoke-free.
Another thing that was really nice to see here in Sydney, are people who actually stop in the middle of the street to pick up cigarette butts. My tour guide stopped the group to pick up plastic wrappers and throw them away. I don't think I've ever seen anybody do that, but it makes sense here because Sydney itself is one of the cleanest cities I've ever seen as well. 

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