Brisbane - Australia

In many ways, Brisbane is a typical Australian city. Laid out in a rectangular grid owing to its Colonial heritage, the CBD is filled mostly with high-rise office buildings. At the street level are shops, cafes and other commercial outlets.

The city grid makes it really easy to get around, but it can also get monotonous. At every street corner there seems to be a grocery shop or convenience store, and sometimes you can lose your bearings a little bit.

Brisbane is not the most beautiful city in Australia, but it does have it's charms. The streetscape is well designed and it is very friendly for walking around. Brisbane River flows through the city, but one mistake the city planners made was to put an expressway on the Western side of the CBD, forever cutting off the city from the river on one side.

Besides the CBD, there are major developments on the South Bank, the newer part of the city. The Brisbane Art Gallery, Convention Centre and Museum are all on this side of the river.

Views of the city skyline. 

Brisbane streets. Older buildings are more interesting architecturally.

There are some very nice old corner pubs in Brisbane which are very well preserved.

And some new ones as well.