Planes, Trains, Trams, Cabs, 4 wheel, and cars WE HAVE DONE IT ALL

We have arrived in Melbourne (10-17). We left Erica and family on the 12:45 train out of Bairnsdale aboard the Vline train. It took 4 hours to reach our desitantion of the city (The Victoria Hotel) . The trip really seemed to go fast. We met several nice people on the trip.
We arrrived at the Southern Street Crossing. It is a huge train station. We made our way to our hotel by taxi. It was such a small car the driver had to put two of our suitcase's in the front set with him. :) The train system goes completely around Melbourne in a square pattern. The also have a city tram system which is wonderful. Wish KC had something like it. There is a "free" tram that circles the entire city center and you can get off as many times as you wish. It operates from 10 am to 6 pm every day except Christmas day and Good Friday. Pretty good service. They even have extended hours during daylight savings and on Thurs, Friday & Saturday they go until 9 pm.

On Thursday Steve and I started out riding the free tram and trying to get our bearings. We walked many many blocks and saw many things. Steve took some great pictures of the sites. We went through City Arcades "which are basically shops in older buildings but connected" These tend to be unique specialty shops." There is the Galleria Shopping Plaza, the Royal Arcade, the Walk Arcade, Australia on Collins and the Block Arcade all within walking distance of our hotel. Collins Streets offers exclusive and beautiful shops that are suppposed to reminiscent of Paris and London (like I would know the difference). Little Collins Street which our hotel is on is known for the designer boutiques ---Steve did spot a shirt that he liked until he went in and priced it at $175.00.
The architecture here is is stunning. We visted the Federation Squire (this is in he middle of Melbourne). We arrived at 9 am and there were just a few people around---after exploring we went back and discovered hundreds of people. Pictures tell the story. There are several restaurants, cafes, bars there. It also includes the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Champions; Australian Racing Museum, Hall of Fame, and National Design Centre. We visited churchs and we able to try to several places to eat. I do have to say they have a 7 eleven, McDonald's, Hunger Jack (Burger King), Subway on almost ever corner.

Friday morning was a brand new day and we left with a plan. We purchased our Met cards $6.20 per adult (which are good for 24 hours---added value is you can ride the train, tram or bus as many times as you would like) You do have to validate your card each time you board a type of transportation. They have little machines to stick them in similar to a credit card machine We headed to the train station and away we went.
Our first stop was the Melbourne Zoo (took 15 minutes to get there by train).
The Melbourne Zoo was built in 1862, it's the oldest zoo in the world. There are some 3,000 animals, including kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, koalas, wombats and platypuses. Rather that being locked in cages, most animals are in almost natural surroundings (lots of different kinds of bushes and trees--lots of little bugs too). An exciting part of this was the butterfly house. There were hundreds of colorful butterflys.
We left the zoo and headed by tram to Queen Victoria Market. The market covers several blocks. (talk about shop till you drop) There are hundred of indoor and outdoor stalls, where you find anything from live chickens to bargain clothes. There is a lot to look at and sort through. We purchased several things --oh dear there go the suitcases to exploding again. Due to our purchase we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit.
We boarded another tram and headed for the Crown Casino. Yes I said Casino---but it is SO DIFFERENT than ours. It was really beautiful and must have been 5 or 6 blocks long. The games were very limited. They are basically slots. Now granted they had 2 and 5 cent machines. They had an inside amusement park.
They also had roulette-- both machines and hands on. They had texas holdem. BUT NOT a poker machine in sight. Needless to say Steve and I didn't lose allot there. ha ha
We board the tram headed back and found a quite little resturant (that had just Opened) for dinner. We then came back to the hotel
and headed to the bar and then the mezanne. Steve had gone down there the night before and had been able to listen to a wonderful piano concert. There is a little white headed lady who we saw the first day. (We were not quit sure she belonged in the hotel with little trolley and tatterted clothing.) But we learned that her name is Madline. She lives in the hotel and has for over 2 years.
No one including the staff know her last name, where she came from, where she goes each day (she leaves every morning and returns just after dinner). She plays the baby grand piano each evening for the everyones pleasure. She is just unbelievealbe. The entire staff seems to in mystery of her. We enjoyed a concert and Steve won another shirt at the bar. (He has won two shirts so far just for drinking beer). Only cost $12 so far for $120.00 worth of shirts. :)
We are looking forward to our next few days here in Melbourne.

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