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Published: November 24th 2010
St. Paul's Cathedral
Melbourne, across from Federation SquareToday we decided to spend exploring the city. There is a free trolley that circles the city center and provides commentary on the sites and landmarks. Somewhat unfortunately, the weather decided to turn hot today. But not to be deterred, we lathered ourselves in sunscreen and set out for the day's adventures. We decided to get off the trolley at Federation Square--a busy intersection of railroad station, downtown businesses, parks and visitor information center. We took photos and wandered along the Yarra River for awhile, ultimately finding ourselves at the Sports Complex--Rod Laver Tennis Stadium and the Cricket Grounds. No sporting events were going on, however. We almost took the tour of the Cricket Grounds but didn't want to spend the 1 1/2 hours it would take (at least one of us didn't). Waiting for the tourist shuttle we got to talking with a father/son travelling duo from Canada--very personable and chatty, the time passed quickly. When the shuttle bus arrived, however, it was already full with people stuffed in like sardines. A few tourists got off, so we all decided to join the pack. We could only take this for a short while as no one seemed to be getting
Flinders Station
At Federation Square off. The shuttle was air conditioned (although with so many on board it was hard to get much air) and I suspect this had something to do with their insistence in staying with the cramped quarters. As it turns out, we and the Canadian pair got off at the same stop near the Melbourne Museum. Another short chat before we parted ways, then we went into Carlton Park to eat our sandwiches. This was a pretty and shady (thank goodness) park in front of the Royal Exhibition Building. As we were heading up to it to see if we could get a look inside, all the doors opened and THOUSANDS of college students came pouring out. Seems they all take final exams on the same days at the same location. They were to have another afternoon session then they would be done for their Australian summer. We moved on to the Melbourne Museum where we took in some Melbourne history as well as some Aboriginal, wandered through the dinosaur bones and a section on the body and mind. Ultimately, however, even the air conditioning could do nothing for our tired feet (yes, we're old) so we worked out way back
to the B&B. After a cool shower and a bit of rest we walked to a local restaurant called Royal Mail, where we enjoyed a quiet setting, personal attention from the waitress and some nice Australian wines. Finally tried a meat pie, but Mike had seafood of course. We both agree the Australian restaurants use too much sea salt.
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