New Years Day

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Ok so when I woke today it was kind of weird to think that its not the new year at home. New Years Day here has been a crappy one. Its been over cast, rainy, windy, and a high of 68. I still did some city exploring. I began at the Carlton gardens and made my way down past the melbourne museum. Then I took the tram over to the Flagstaff Gardens. From here I walked down to Flinders street and caught 2 trams over to the queen victoria gardens. Here I noticed there were alot of people in the area heading to one place. In the middle of the gardens they were having their annual Summardayz. This is a summer concert with 7 stages with great upcoming artists. The event ran from 9am-11pm and it was over 100 dollars to get in. The few people I talked to said it was a dance fest inside all day long. It was loud and sounded like fun but it was raining, I wasn't dressed appropriately, and I had already bought a ticket to see Wicked later that evening. So from there I headed back through the city, stopped at starbucks and returned home. At starbucks I bought this caramel cake that was amazing. I've never seen it at home. It had 3 layers: a butter crust, a perfectly sweetened caramel custard and chocolate sauce on top...yum yum

Since it was such a crappy day out I decided to go over to Lygon street (the italian heart of the city) to catch a movie and get a bite to eat before I went to the theater to see Wicked. I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona. It was a great movie. I had seen a trailer for it over the summer online and it looked really good....you wouldn't expect the ending??? After the movie I caught a bite to eat at the University Cafe...a very good italian restaurant and then headed downtown for the musical Wicked. This show was over in the US and earned a lot of press. Its about the 3 witches from the Wizard of Oz, the wicked witch of the east and west and the good withc. It was a story about their childhood and how they became the way they are. It was really good.

A few things I wanted to discuss...here in Melbourne along with the tram only lanes which are in the middle of the streets, they drive on the Left side of the road and in the city the cars share their 2 lanes with horse and carriages. Its a very crampped road. Also they have this turn that is only done in Australia...the hook turn. Its not at every stoplight just some, so if you're driving you have to look for it. A hook turn is when you want to make a Right turn (now remember they drive on the left so they will be crossing traffic). So what you do is get in the far Left lane and pull right up in the crosswalk and wait until the light turns red...then you hook turn (make your right turn across all 4 lanes and the 2 tram lanes)...its crazy and confusing. Also they don't have any real grocery stores here. Everything seems to be a convenience store. The stores that are supposed to be stores have mostly 1 brand of everything and sell a big portion of alcohol.

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Photos

Domino's Bikes
on my walk over to carlton gardens I saw this line of domino's delivery vehicles and thought it looked cute

Carlton Gardens
scenary

Carlton Gardens
trees

Melbourne
a view of the city from Melbourne Museum

Carlton Gardens
the fountain/center of the gardens

Carlton Gardens
scenary

Carlton Gardens
a close up of the fountain

Carlton Gardens
if you look closely enough you can see at the end of the pathway is a skyscraper...thats how close to the city these gardens are

Carlton Gardens
interesting plant

Carlton Gardens
flowers

Carlton Gardens
I thought this was also a nice shot to capture the distance from the city and the garden...with the pond

Flagstaff Gardens
flowers

Flagstaff Gardens
flowers

Melbourne
another interesting shot...if you look closely you can see a reflection in the building. That reflection is from the skyscraper on the Left of the building. I thought this was a good shot

Queen Victoria Gardens
the center of the garden

Melbourne
some of the chrismas decorations on the corner of Collins and Swanston

Comments

[Michelle]

Grocery Shop
Try Coles Central at the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders street, its as proper grocery store as you'll get in the city.

[Vicki]

That's cool that you went to see Wicked there. I saw it here and it was fabulous!