Second Day in Melbourne

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Blog 3



Melbourne -March 11, 2018 – Weather forecast: clear with a high of 36°C; in reality it is partly cloudy, windy with a temperature of 22°C



We woke around 6:30 a.m. well rested and got ready for a relaxing day; we don’t meet up with the tour group until 4:15 this afternoon. While Brooke showered I went for a walk to see if I could capture photographically some of the sights we saw yesterday but without the crowds blocking the view.



Before I had returned Brooke had scoured the Internet to see what was open on a Sunday. Several of the locations that we wanted to see are open but are fairly costly so we opted to go and visit a number of locations that open free of charge. Our first destination was the Victoria State Library. Yes, I know you can’t keep us away from those places. It was well worth the visit.

The building(s), actually multiple sections have been added to the original structure, is a wonderful blend of old and new architecture including a magnificent reading room crowned with a domed glass ceiling.



Around the exterior of the domed area there six levels of galleries where exhibits on various aspects of Australian life from the early days of colonization to the present were displayed, including Ned Kelly’s suit of improvised armour. Ned Kelly was a notorious outlaw in the area in the 1880’s. In addition, as it is a library, there was an extensive display on the History of the Book. The older section of the building is scheduled for a major two year, $60.4 million dollar renovation which is to start shortly.



What we thought was going to be a short visit turned into a multi-hour exploration and it wasn’t until 1:30 that we emerged to have lunch in a café on the steps of the Library. We decided to return to the hotel and attempt to catch up on the Blog. Technology has thwarted me for most of the afternoon as I have been trying to select individual photos from Brooke’s cloud account and combine them with mine.



We met up with the tour group, 18 individuals and a dedicated Tour Manager, for an orientation meeting before heading off to our scheduled group dinner onboard The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant. The local transit system has dedicated a number of their older trams, built in 1948, to be mobile restaurants. We were served an excellent dinner, desert and coffee accompanied by your choice of wine and liqueurs. While one dines the tram runs through some of the older neighbourhoods around the bay so we saw many homes of interesting character and caught glimpses of the water. Much of the time was spent traversing St. Kitts. This was a unique and interesting evening event.





Back at the hotel we put in our request for an early wake-up call as tomorrow we start our tour of the city followed by a special side trip to view the evening parade of the Little Penguins

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Photos

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Entrance to Chinatown

2
Guardian over Chinatown

3
Detailed brickwork

4
Street art

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Dome over reading room

6
Reading room under the dome

7
Our scholar

8
Great ending to dinner

Comments

[Gillian Wade]

Holiday Mode
You've got me in virtual holiday mode so I'm ready to go and tuned in to Google Earth but could you first of all send me a portion of that dessert. Have a great time. G. xx

[2Chawks]

Great!
Sorry - I have not perfected teleportation yet!