our flight got in at around midnight, and we bused it into the rather empty city. we walked for about 20 minutes through the dark, quiet streets to our hotel, the formule 1. the place had looked very basic, but clean and nice, on the website. when we got there, we were met with a dismal scene. the elevators stank of puke. the receptionist was behind what appeared to be bulletproof glass.
and our room was squalid! there was nothing save some beat-up furniture, a small tv, two tiny bars of soap, and towels. the shower was separated from the room by a curtain. we could only laugh! and spend almost no time there for the next three days.
the next day, with damp hair (no blow-dryer!), we headed out to see melbourne in the sunshine. it was actually anzac day, a holiday remembering wwI veterans, so there were lots of people off from work and milling around town.
i don't know if i can really say what my impression of melbourne was. most of the time, i get strong senses of whether or not i like a place, and i jump to conclusions quickly. but melbourne just seemed disjointed and all over the place, like it didn't have a solid identity, and i couldn't figure out how i felt about it. but anyways, here are some of the sights!
flinders street train station. HUGE.
church, the name of which i forget!
a sculpture called "the public purse" i kinda wanted to sit on it, but i was afraid of getting in trouble :(
one thing i liked was that there were lots of very old shopping arcades, many of which had beautiful decorations. here's the floor of one from the 19th century!
matt and i walked all around, popping into most of the little alleyways that were crammed with restaurants, people, and shops. here was a quiet one, where i drooled over pastries in the window like some child in a charles dickens story
golliwog dolls, which are super controversial (racist) in the uk, but apparently A-OK in the merry old land of oz!
sweet museum; ozzieswe had heard that there was some sweet graffiti to be seen, so with my face buried in our guide book, i led us into some artsy-fartsy side streets.
we got sidelined by some older australian folks in the alley, who kindly offered to take our picture. they then grilled us about our itinerary, trash-talked sydney, and coerced us into telling them that melbourne was, like, the greatest city in the world. they were pleased with our suck-up skills, then bid us bon voyage.
shameless hipsters
i snoozed on the bus. i was le tiredanyways, after we hopped off da bus, i wanted real italian food more than i've ever wanted anything in ma life. so after scoping out the many restaurants on lygon street, the historically italian slice o' melbourne, we decided on a woodfire pizza-oven place called cafe trevi. the weather was glorious, so we sat outside.
AND, corkage was only $5, so we hit up a "bottle-o" (liquor store) for cheap wine, and drank while we waited for our luscious pizza and pasta.
wuts dis, no mayo on the pizza? i must not be in japan anymore (thank goodness)!matt had never had gelato before (SCANDAL), so after our meal i treated him to a cone at a gelateria down the road. i had hazelnut, aka NUTELLA FLAVOR, and it was flipping yum. plus, as a cute touch, all these young boys were hanging around and speaking italian. cute!
the next day, i dragged matt to the museum to see an exhibit on the "art of disney." we had seen posters outside the day before, and i thought it looked really cool! and i knew that matt would secretly love it.
there was a student discount, and we decided to be fake-outs and give them our japanese foreign resident cards, since they're totally in japanese and no one would be the wiser. hilariously, it worked, and we got reduced tix!
the exhibit was really amazing, all about the evolution of the animation of disney movies, and complete with clips from the films, original drawings, history, everything! mattsy even admitted to liking it.
after, we were on a museum high, so we decided to hit up yet another--i think it was the modern museum? anyways, we had heard on the free bus that they had a real section of the rainforest in it, so we wanted to see.
its diswe didn't have a lot of time at the museum, but we did manage to see the rainforest and some aboriginal art, which was very cool.
deep in the heart of the forest?after the museum, we braved the hard-knock streets of melbourne to get to the famed cricket stadium, where the game of aussie football was being held that affo. the joint held like 100,000 peeps!
we didn't know what the rules would be, exactly, since its diff from both american and brit footie. it ended up being super easy to follow and was tres exciting!after the game, we were both so hungry that we didn't know what to do with ourselves. we ended up going to an amazing greek (fave!) restaurant called "stalactites." we got some pita and dips, then wolfed down our souvlaki like pros. it was mattsy's first greek din! and it brought back many happy memories for me...of greece circa 2005, of the annual south bay greek fest, of papadakis...nostalgia!
we tried also to get a "ghost nighttime tour" of the old jail in melbourne, where prisoners had been executed (um, fun? obvio it was all matt's idea), but it was closed. so, full to bursting with roasted greek meats, we hit it early!
the next day, we got up early to do what matt was (i think) looking forward to most. the "neighbours" tour!
for those of you who don't know (i assume everyone), "neighbours" is an australian soap which is wildly popular in the uk, and has been for about 2 decades. the whole shebang is filmed in melbourne, and matt shelled out some serious dough to get us onto the tour!
we took a ton of photos at different sets, on the bus, etc., but since most of ya don't know what it is, i'll refrain from posting all but a few. happily, though, i really enjoyed the tour!
ramsay street, where it all happens! it's a real place, real peeps live there!
the bus. i was the only american, typical.
during every tour, the bus gets to meet a former cast member. our bus was crammed with awk people, so matt was the only one who asked questions of "stingray," the former cast member's character name. i would've asked something, too, but i'm an ignorant murican who doesn't watch the show (as was pointed out to the entire group, thanks kibs!)anywho, the tour ended in the early afternoon, and we bunny-hopped over to the melbourne zoo, the third oldest in the world! this is what i had been looking forward to. lions and tigers and bears, oh my! plus a butterfly house, elemaphants, girafamalaffs, kangamaroos...and wombats! who knew wombats were SO cute?!
but the best, THE BEST--koalas. UP CLOSE WITH ADORABLE STANK!
look..just LOOK at that puddum!! KAWAAAAIIIIII
grumble grumble grumble, i have important things to do because i'm a BIG FAT BEAR
i have a giraffe hat
CRIKEY! LOOK AT THE HAIR ON THAT PLAID BEAST!
wooing the emusi effing loved the zoo. i hadn't been to one in about 10 years, and i cooed at all the animals. it was an explosively joyous end to our stint in melly-burn.
we ended up having to head to the airport that evening, as we were about to embark on the new zealand leg of the trip. so, we relievedly bid our crap hotel "BAI" and crammed onto a very full bus to get to the airport.
next, you wonder? no big deal, just meeting up with HORDES of friends in new zealand, amazing dinners, segway tours, and much, much more! until we meet again, my fine-feathered friends!
peachy keen,
lileen
melbourne is lew's favorite city. maybe evar.
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