Song: "We Will Not Grow Old" by Lenka
April 4th
I woke up on the train to the faint sunrise and fields that looked a bit like home:
That was nice. I had slept a little, but not a ton on the train so I was a little lethargic. Once I arrived at the station, I left with no other thought in my mind besides "get coffee, get coffee, get coffee." I don't even really like coffee, so this was fun. Also, Australian coffee is not served delicious. I don't know what it is, but it sort of just tastes like warm milk soaked near espresso beans to me. A mocha here is like warm milk sprinkled with cocoa powder. Anyway, I got my coffee and a delicious breakfast quiche thing and was on my way. Not much of anything was open at this hour (8:00 am) except cafes and parks. The next thing I found was a park. My sister says those things on the trees look like those cardboard contraptions that go around your drink at Starbucks. I have no idea what they're for.
The park was essentially empty, minus some really motivated people exercising. I saw a team of people wearing the same shirts, but never caught who they were. Anyway, here's motivated guy number 1 and the team of who knows what players.
Oh right, it was called Flagstaff Park because before they built up the area around the city, it was used as a look out onto the water. Anyway, here's pretty church number one of several that I will come across today.
Also "open" at this hour was the Victoria Royal Mint, which may or may not have been interesting if I went during its operating hours. I went in the gate, but there wasn't much to be seen.
Here's the next church of the "churches Becky took pictures of in Melbourne" series:
I had my handy dandy map of Australia, which had a little inset map of Melbourne to guide me around the city until I reached the visitors center. I walked past the Victoria Library. Note: Australia likes its public sculptures. I have never seen cities so full of them until I came here, and my university campus is a whole other story in itself.
I'm also not sure why they had what looked to be a corner of the library in the side of the sidewalk (behind lamppost)
Anyway, my first goal of the morning was to get to the visitors center. On the way, I discovered it was the first weekend of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Here's one of the street theaters:
Unfortunately, it was mostly kids shows, but they had awesome titles:
My favorite was "Axis of Awesome" and Super Mega Maths Battle was pretty good too.
I left there (Town Hall) and got closer and closer to the visitors center. Along the way I passed this perplexing set of benches. Really?
On the other corner across the street was one of my favorite buildings in Melbourne, the Flinders Street Train Station.
Across the street from that was the visitors center!
It actually wasn't as helpful as I wanted it to be, but it was good to look around in anyway.
It was 9 a.m. when I got to the vistors center, and the place I wanted to go next was the observation deck at Rialto Towers and that didn't open until 10, so I walked around some bridges trying to find a place on my map called "Batman Park." I found some interesting things along the way, like my new favorite cafeteria. It wasn't open sadly.
I crossed some bridges
and then crossed back over them
The one above was a aboriginal conceptual bridge which celebrated the cultures of all Australians. Very artsy. The artist is quoted as saying:
"Let's declare, all of us as one, with free will and full heart and clear mind. We swear to the fact that we are equal Australians."
I liked that.
I took a picture of the USA section of the bridge:
More bridge pics:
I have no idea what this building was, but it looked cool:
Ah, finally. I did make it to Batman Park, which was sadly nothing other than an odd looking pigeon cage and a helicopter pad. Yes, those sounded like bad ideas to have next to each other to me as well.
Also, along the way I found this on a pole:
I especially like the question mark.
I made it to the Rialto Towers without much trouble (ok, I got disoriented and crossed the bridge unnecessarily, but I made it there) and got my student discount and went up. It was pretty gorgeous up there, but I didn't really know what anything was. I used the little guides by the windows to spot where I had walked earlier and where I wanted to go later. It was an informative trip. Like a giant map, but really high up.
These were my bridges:
and here was the train station I came in on (in the bottom left hand corner):
Also, since it was early in the morning (10:15am) no one was there and I watched the included Melbourne movie by myself. It was kind of fun.
I left and my stomach told me it was time for lunch, or something like it. I stopped in a random cafe and got the best $2 croissant of my life.
and passed a pretty chandelier behind bars:
After eating that delicious croissant, I was thirsty and in my stroke of momentary genius I decided to buy a large container of orange juice instead of a several small ones throughout the day. I meant to bring my water bottle when leaving the apartment, but it slipped my mind. While buying the orange juice at the 7-Eleven (I know, so Australian), I ran into a group of Americans about my age. I think they were studying or backpacking around, but we didn't talk long.
My next goal was to find the Arts Centre, which was in my little Melbourne video, and from there I wanted to find the National Gallery of Victoria. This trip, while essentially just for fun and exploring, was also for my aesthetics class in a way. We're supposed to write a journal of our aesthetics experiences, but I really was coming up short for examples. What better way to tackle an art assignment than by a field trip! A very long field trip I might add. Melbourne to Sydney is about the distance from Chicago to Washington, D.C. (a little shorter, but not by much). Regardless, it was totally worth it.
I found the Arts Centre. The building was pretty and it was conveniently located right next to the gallery.
Also, it was a gorgeous day out, and the forecast had called for rain today all week. Some days I feel crazy lucky.
The gallery was a lot of fun.
In it was my favorite ceiling of all time:
I laid on the carpet with the mother and her three toddlers and stared at it longer. I don't care if you think I'm insane; that's just how I am.
Ok, love it. Here's just a bunch of picture.
That was fun. I also wanted to briefly see Victoria's Royal Botanic Gardens. I liked their clock.
I tried many times to get pictures of the government house. Then I decided I didn't want to get deported. This one turned out ok.
My legs were exhausted after walking all day. I took a picture of the exit since I was so happy to see it.
I left the gardens and made my way over more bridges back to the city. Here's a nice picture of the city skyline across the Yarra River.
I stopped at the Federation Bells, which were interesting. They were played by a man on a keyboard I think which hooked up to each bell. It was fascinating.
I stopped and got some wedges with sweet chilli and sour cream and a glass of wine (Victoria apparently is known for its wine) when I returned to Federation Square, the area with the visitors center. I relaxed there and watched part of the comedy festival. Sadly, the acts themselves were not very funny. The master of ceremonies was entertaining. Here are pictures:
Amusing MC:
Unamusing act one (it wasn't funny. she just made silly faces and twirled around.)
Unamusing act two (this was just terrifying. they mimicked each other.)
After that, I was done and I bolted out of there to another wing of the National Gallery of Victoria in Federation Square. This museum had the aboriginal and other Australian art. It was also amazing.
This piece is in response to one of Australia's past Prime Ministers refusing to issue a national apology for the country's treatment of the aboriginal people. The next (and current) Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, issued the statement later in 2008.
This one was titled "Starry Night in Jimbala Country". The left side depicts an area where there are sharp stones for making
jimbala, or spearheads. The right is the starry sky.
The next wing was other Australian art. My favorite from it was the one depicting the Australian spirit in sports:
Accurate enough.
I really enjoyed the next part of the exhibit, which was award winning Victorian high school art students work. It was pretty incredible.
My favorites:
Terrifying
Phenomenal
Yeah, that's painting. Crazy, right?
I left there, unsure of whether I was going to look for dinner or go back to the Queen Victoria Markets. I decided to look into the markets because they might close at 5pm. They closed at 3pm and it was 4pm, but I didn't know that, so I walked across town anyway. I took one of my favorite pictures of the trip down this side alley of commissioned street art:
State funded street art. I love it.
Here's Australia throwing sculptures in the street again:
Also, here's an Australian slang lesson for you. Heaps = many or much.
Like this one, "The Queen Victoria Market: It's
heaps better than school!"
Notice the hours. :)
Well, I sat down with my map trying to find a place to eat using the pamphlet I got at the tourist center, and realized there was nothing near Queen Victoria Markets, so I hopped on the free tourist bus (Yeah, Melbourne! way to go with this one!) and went back toward the center of town again. I didn't realize the bus came with a bit of a tour...I might have gotten on it sooner. Anyway, it dropped me off at The Docklands, which seems to be a new developing area around the city close to the water. It's also near some studios where they shoot the show "Neighbours" but I didn't find out if they had tours or anything. It was getting to be after 5pm, so I looked around at the little shops. My main desire was a travel blanket for the train since I was so cold on the way here. I found one reasonably priced. It was a "cashmere like blanket." I also saw this set of souvenir license plates with my name and my sisters right next to each other. I didn't touch it or anything.
Daw.
The Docklands had a sweet ferris wheel, but I was not going to pay that much to go in it. Plus, I had free entry back into the observation towers, so I wanted to do that.
They had a set-up to honor famous people of Melbourne. Dame Edna has a statue!
Kylie Minogue's didn't look real and John Farhnam's just looked silly. Oh and Dame Nellie Melba, who I think was who the toast was named after. Note: Looked it up on Wikipedia, she was a soprano, also from Melbourne.
I went and got dinner at this relatively fancy restaurant. This knife was next to me by the window and I thought it looked cool:
Oh, yes and I had an excellent view.
Here was my Chicken Involtini. Scrumptious.
I left there and made my way back to the observation tower. I got a picture of my favorite Australian television station's (they show
30 Rock and
Lost) Melbourne headquarters:
I went up to the tower hoping for a gorgeous sunset picture. It was a little cloudy, but here's what I found:
I left there and ran to the train station, picked up my ticket which I had booked that morning while bridge-walking, and sat down to leave. My legs were killing me. It's amazing what 11 hours of walking with your belongings on your back will do to you. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
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