Melbourne : what a city !!

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Good Day Mates
When my colleague Steve picked me up at Melbourne Airport and drove me to my hotel I asked him what he likes so much about Melbourne and what the biggest differences are with Sydney. After all I was a bit sceptical and ignorant. I visited Melbourne in 2008 with my Sydney friend Jason. We spent the majority of our time than at Laver Arena as we had tickets for the Australian Open. We did manage to see a bit of the city. But I did not remember much of that. So I had come back to Melbourne now to give it another chance. But after an already perfect stay in Sydney I was sceptical about Melbourne. Steve told me that Melbourne has more beautiful architecture, more food and shopping opportunities than Sydney making it a more enjoyable city. Hmmm.
I did not do that much yesterday as I was not feeling really fit after a terrible night with not much sleep and the fact that I got up at 5:30. So I made only a little stroll in Melbourne. I liked the trams already. Than I found out that Melbourned a FREE tramride within the CBD. And Melbourne is offering a FREE bus ride which stopps at 10 of Melbourne most interesting sights. Wow. When checking out the Visitor's Information Center at Federation Square I was really suprised : a very nice Information Center. It had lots of interesting stuff and first panic started : sooo much to do and see and only staying 3 nights. Damn.
Anyway I went to bed early...
So got up this morning. Despite that my hotel room is great , the breakfast at my hotel was a dissapointment. So no good points there. Despite the weather forecast prediciting a nice sunny Wednesday, the sky was grey when I started my walk. But with my Ipod playing my favourite songs and my city guide I started a nice walk. It did not take long before I started to discover that Steve was right : the architecture of some of the buildings was stunning. And than the sun started to come out. And we all know what this means... everything looks soo much better than. My cityguides told me about the coffee culture in Melbourne : well yes. I have never seen sooo many different places where you can get a cup of black gold. And some of these coffee bars are really nice. And each coffee place was filled with people. They do love their coffee these Melburnians. Not only is there Melbourne to see, but also the Precincts/suburbs. For example the bohemian precincts of St Kilda and Prahran. Very nice neighbourhoods. And there are much more of these precincts. The great thing is that you can reach them all via either train or tram. Especially the trams are handy. As in case you get lost, you just ask someone where to find a tram and than you are saved as all the tram lines travel to/from the main station in Melbourne's CBD.
A great asset of the inner Melbourne is the river Yarra. It runs in the city giving adding an incredible asset to the city. The Riverside District is sooo nice. Filled with lots of restaurants. Just heaven.
Talking about heaven : Melbourne owns the tallest Residential Sky Scraper in the world : Eureka tower. So of course I had to go up there. Not only fantastic views, but also free wifi. So I could directly update Facebook with some of the stunning pictures I made. And things got even more amazing : Close to the Eureka Tower was a Belgian beer café. They served Leffe, Stella, Hoegaarden AND Kriek from the tap. So I had to get myself a Kriek. Wow !
I am better going to stop here now. I guess this update just shows that I am widly enthusiastic about this city !
X
Joeri

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