The Big City

The last two weekends we have taken the train into the big city. The city of Melbourne, Australia's cultural and sports capital. What can I say - it's fabulous! It is a larger city than Vancouver ( Metro Vancouver has a population of 2.5 million as compared to Melbourne's 3.8).
Heading across the Yarra River, up St. Kilda Rd, towards the Shrine of Remembrance.

Both days we have taken the train in from Croydon, which is the nearest train station to us. From Croydon it is about an hour into the city, an hour because it stops at every - single- stop - along - the - way. If we are lucky we can get a seat for the journey. The girls are always excited to take the train (we could probably just ride it for cheap entertainment on a Sunday) but then complain about the length of the ride. We get off the train at Flinders Street which is in the heart of Melbourne (pronounced Mel - bun by the Aussies). The first day we were walking through the station a girl stopped Steve, who was wearing a Canucks t-shirt, and said "hey, that's my team!". She was from Kelowa - small world! The station is great itself, very old looking, great architecture. From Flinders Street you can get anywhere. There are trams which almost every where you could want, buses and many things within walking distance. There are small tourist shops, fast food shops and a 7-eleven on almost every corner.

The first thing we did in Melbourne was head to the Shrine of Remembrance(http://www.shrine.org.au/). It is a memorial to the men and women who fought in the wars, those that came home and those that didn't. It is phenomenal. It is a huge monument surrounded by an equally huge garden. Every half hour there is a small ceremony inside the sanctuary where they pass a light over the Stone of Remembrance to simulate the sun passing over it. On Remembrance Day the sun passes over the word "love" in the inscription "Greater love hath no man" at exactly 11 am. The marble slab is sunk down in to the floor so that you have to bow your head to read it. It is a very solemn and humbling place.

We took a tram from the Shrine back into the heart of the city. Having been in some smaller towns in Europe, I was struck by how many of the smaller streets reminded me of places I had been in Italy and France. The kind of places where you feel like you are sitting in the middle of the road to drink your cappuccino. Generally you feel like this because you are! Despite paying on $5 for a coffee and a pastry you feel like you are the most cosmopolitan person around. People are walking a few inches from your table and cars are flying past within an arms length. I love it! A far cry from the latte I usually grab before I head into Save-on Foods to do the grocery shopping.

Having a snack on Degraves Street (above)

The girls were great little troopers walking along without complaint (OK - almost without complaint). It's a great walking city. They all managed to spend their allotted money in the souvenir shops buying small purses shapped like kangaroos and bracelets with jeweled koalas.

They couldn't get enough of checking out all the different stores and little kiosks.

The girls being goofy, trying to pose like mannequins.(above)

Last weekend we headed in to the city on a Sunday morning. The train is really cheap on a Sunday, only $3.10 for an all day pass that covers the train, trams and other transportation. It's a great deal. We spent the day at the Queen Victoria Market. The market is amazing. It's something you have to experience to believe, it's like Granville Island x 50. There are stalls selling clothing, fruit, sovenirs, shoes, purses, crafts,jewellry, meat, everything you could imagine. Steve bought a pair of Ugg slippers for only $25 (sorry Tanya). Great dealThe market is not open on Mondays so about 2 hours before closing the fresh food vendors start cutting their prices in half. We bought 3 T-bone steaks for $5.50 ($4.50 Cdn) for dinner that night. Delicious! We could eat like kings at those prices.








Brutus and the girls.

We walked around one corner only to come across 2 very large camels. In the middle of the Vic Market! A little odd maybe. For $8 a person you could go for a ride on the camels. Madeline was a little cranky but Brutus was more than willing to take the girls for a stroll. When they started moving I wasn't sure if Rhiannon was going to laugh or throw up. Her face was priceless, one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" moments. Kennedy and Alex were absolutely thrilled. Madeline and Brutus held their poker faces for the entire time.

Madeline and Brutus

We spent hours in the market and I'm sure didn't see everything. It is a shopper's paradise (Mom). I can hardly wait to go back. I have my eye on a couple of purses and Steve is holding out for a kangaroo skin hat. Melbourne is a filled with endless activities. We still have to make trips in to the aquarium, Cook's cottage, all the gardens and numerous other things. Every time we look some thing up we find more things that we would love to do. Although, Steve went to the Governer's House for lunch last Tuesday so maybe that should be the swan song?