Melbourne

Trip Start Aug 17, 2008
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19
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Trip End Jun 17, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , Victoria,
Saturday, November 8, 2008

Melbourne is a really beautiful city, with so many things to do and see that it can be overwhelming if you only have a few days to spend here.  Since we stayed only 3 days and because we were already quite tired after the sensorial overload of the Great Ocean Road, we've decided to take it easier and skip the usual tourist "must do's."  Therefore, we spent our three days in the city just enjoying the place and, to our shame, we haven't seen not a single one of its famous museum.  However, we did do a lot of people watching from several of its numerous cafes, an educational experience in its own way.
 
Although it is a quite large city (3 million+), Melbourne does seem to have a slower pace than other large metropolitan areas we've seen in the past.  People seem to be more relaxed and the cafes are full at any time of day and night, providing plenty of people-watching opportunities 01 - City and river
01 - City and river
 .  To make this activity even more exciting, we ended up there during the famous Melbourne Cup week (the ultimate horse racing event Down Under) and we got a chance to see up close how the Melbournian ladies dress up for the event. And we can say that we have never seen so many weird outfits (especially the hats) in our life.  We are not envious, really, just puzzled by how they define high-fashion at these events.  Too bad we felt too embarrassed to take photos of the most "representative" items! :-(  So you'll have to take our word for it!
 
Now, don't imagine that we sat in cafes like a couple of bums all the way through our visit.  We actually did do a couple of trips but without a specific target and without an itinerary in mind (and without having too much information on what we were looking at, either!).  So here are our (clueless) impressions:
1. The Federation Square is a very interesting place where you can admire some absolutely remarkable avant-garde architecture while soaking in the atmosphere of this place that seems to be the favorite meeting place for Melbournians and tourists alike.  Situated by the river, it also allows some spectacular views over the Melbourne skyline (talking about the skyline, we really liked how Melbourne's downtown combines modern and classical architecture). 
2 02 - Central railway station
02 - Central railway station
 .  Melbourne's Chinatown is also interesting to explore both for its overall feeling, but also because of its shops and restaurants.  No, we have not tried the restaurant that advertised Mao food (see pic) as we already know too well how the communist food is like (small portion sizes, bad tasting and coming with a side of political propaganda), but we did try a place recommended by a well-known travel guide and that one failed to impress us, too.  Anyway, go there for the atmosphere!  It's worth it!
3.  Melbourne has numerous pedestrian-only streets and (narrow) alleys.  They are a great place to walk around or sit down at the patio and just watch the people walking by.  More spectacular is the café situated on the 33-rd floor of Sofitel.  While people watching was far less interesting here, its bathroom is definitely a high point.  Literally!  It's been declared by G as the men's bathroom with the coolest view in the world (see pic ;-); according to L though, the women's bathroom with the coolest view still remains the one at the 85th floor in John Hancock.
 
One evening we even managed to squeeze out the energy to go out to a jazz club (Bennetts Lane Jazz Club) considered by some as the place where you will hear the best jazz in Australia.  While the music that night wasn't really exceptional, it was set in a relaxing environment and we did enjoy some good wine, too 03 - Federation Square
03 - Federation Square
 .
 
And this is pretty much all we did in Melbourne, except that we spent a half a day shopping for a new hi-def camcorder, as the old one started to show its age.  G found it pretty cool (and took full advantage of it) that he could negotiate the price of the camcorder even at a national chain as JB and, in the end, was pretty happy with both the deal and his negotiating skills.  Of course, he woke up early the following morning to test and study the camera's instructions and cool features!  He sure loves his toys but no complaints here; we all like his pics and videos. 
 
For those of you who asked, overall, we can say that the palatability of food is getting better as we've approached the bigger cities, especially for non-Australian ethnic foods (in Melbourne we had one of the best curry ever at a real hole-in-the-wall kind of place - thank you, Mr. Frommer!).  However, the food is not as good as it would be in a city of similar size in Europe or the U.S.  We keep speculating on why that might be the case but, so far, we couldn't come up with a convincing theory.  However, we definitely cannot complain of the quality, diversity or the price of the Australian wines!
 
Anyway, after three days of wandering around in Melbourne, we've decided to pack our bags and head for our next destination: the Australian Alps.
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