Melbourne and Ballarat
Fact of the day: Melbourne, Australia was founded by Batman. Maybe they should have called it Gotham instead. ;)
The last 2 days we spent in Melbourne and Ballarat.
Wes's parents and we arrived late Wednesday night and basically just went to the hotel and had a bit of a late snack (Chinese porridge, vegetables, etc) before going to bed.
Thursday Wes and I spent wandering around the city on our own. Unfortunately it was rainy, which curtailed our sightseeing and we should have done some more research on the Royal Exhibition Hall, since they only allow 15 people to see it a day at 2pm, but overall it was enjoyable.
We started out the day by wandering around the "laneways", which is one of the icons of Melbourne. These are tiny alleyways between the major driving intersections. I think they sprung up originally as pedestrian-only walkways, but over the years have morphed into rows of storefronts and cafes. We had a breakfast of omelet and scrambled eggs at one such cafe. Our next stop was the Immigration Museum, which talked about immigration into Australia over its history. There was also an amazing temporary photo exhibit on Hampi, which we wanted to see in India back when we went, but were unable to because of when we went to India. At this point it started to rain, but it was somewhere between a rain and a drizzle.
Next we hopped on the tram - something similar to San Fran's trolleys except it's free for everyone to use and just goes in a square around Melbourne's city center. Our next destination was Queen Victoria Market, which is a HUGE open air market with about everything you could want - clothes, bags, souvenirs, jewelry, fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, tea, and coffee. We had lunch there - weisswurst sausage and a "borez", which was some sort of pastry filled with lamb and vegetables. We also bought some apples for a snack later on. Then we headed to the Royal Exhibition Hall, but arrived after 2pm since we didn't know that was the only time you could get in. :( The guy at the Melbourne museum was REALLY kind to us, though, and gave us free tickets to see an exhibit with some items from the Royal Exhibition Hall. It was pretty interesting to read about some things of Australian history that I'd never heard about before, like Phar Lap the racehorse. By the time we finished with the exhibit, it was absolutely pouring out. We ended up eating our apples here and waiting till the rain slacked off enough for us to hop back on the tram and head back to our hotel without getting TOO wet. After freshening up, we met up with Wes's parents, who had spent the day seeing different nurseries to buy a lot of stock trees for their bonsai business. Then we all went to a street called Lygon St, which was Little Italy. So of course we had Italian, though it seemed more like Australian-Chinese than the authentic Italian food I've had.
Yesterday we ate buffet breakfast at the hotel and took a road trip to Ballarat, which is about 1.5 hours away from Melbourne. Ballarat is known for its part of Australia's gold rush, which happened roughly around the same time as America's gold rush, and Eureka's Rebellion, the only armed rebellion in Australia (which ironically occurred because of the heavy taxes the government placed on the gold miners). Today they have a museum on gold there and a village set up like the city would have been at the time of the gold rush, much like Mystic Seaport or Williamsburg, VA. We spent several hours there, but could have spent more time. We had a very late lunch of sandwiches and salad and then went to the airport to catch the 1 hour plane flight back to Sydney. Once there we had a late dinner of Chinese, unpacked, and then went to bed.
Today Wes and I will be going to the city for some shopping and then will meet up with some of his high school friends for an Italian dinner. :)
The last 2 days we spent in Melbourne and Ballarat.
Wes's parents and we arrived late Wednesday night and basically just went to the hotel and had a bit of a late snack (Chinese porridge, vegetables, etc) before going to bed.
Thursday Wes and I spent wandering around the city on our own. Unfortunately it was rainy, which curtailed our sightseeing and we should have done some more research on the Royal Exhibition Hall, since they only allow 15 people to see it a day at 2pm, but overall it was enjoyable.
We started out the day by wandering around the "laneways", which is one of the icons of Melbourne. These are tiny alleyways between the major driving intersections. I think they sprung up originally as pedestrian-only walkways, but over the years have morphed into rows of storefronts and cafes. We had a breakfast of omelet and scrambled eggs at one such cafe. Our next stop was the Immigration Museum, which talked about immigration into Australia over its history. There was also an amazing temporary photo exhibit on Hampi, which we wanted to see in India back when we went, but were unable to because of when we went to India. At this point it started to rain, but it was somewhere between a rain and a drizzle.
Next we hopped on the tram - something similar to San Fran's trolleys except it's free for everyone to use and just goes in a square around Melbourne's city center. Our next destination was Queen Victoria Market, which is a HUGE open air market with about everything you could want - clothes, bags, souvenirs, jewelry, fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, tea, and coffee. We had lunch there - weisswurst sausage and a "borez", which was some sort of pastry filled with lamb and vegetables. We also bought some apples for a snack later on. Then we headed to the Royal Exhibition Hall, but arrived after 2pm since we didn't know that was the only time you could get in. :( The guy at the Melbourne museum was REALLY kind to us, though, and gave us free tickets to see an exhibit with some items from the Royal Exhibition Hall. It was pretty interesting to read about some things of Australian history that I'd never heard about before, like Phar Lap the racehorse. By the time we finished with the exhibit, it was absolutely pouring out. We ended up eating our apples here and waiting till the rain slacked off enough for us to hop back on the tram and head back to our hotel without getting TOO wet. After freshening up, we met up with Wes's parents, who had spent the day seeing different nurseries to buy a lot of stock trees for their bonsai business. Then we all went to a street called Lygon St, which was Little Italy. So of course we had Italian, though it seemed more like Australian-Chinese than the authentic Italian food I've had.
Yesterday we ate buffet breakfast at the hotel and took a road trip to Ballarat, which is about 1.5 hours away from Melbourne. Ballarat is known for its part of Australia's gold rush, which happened roughly around the same time as America's gold rush, and Eureka's Rebellion, the only armed rebellion in Australia (which ironically occurred because of the heavy taxes the government placed on the gold miners). Today they have a museum on gold there and a village set up like the city would have been at the time of the gold rush, much like Mystic Seaport or Williamsburg, VA. We spent several hours there, but could have spent more time. We had a very late lunch of sandwiches and salad and then went to the airport to catch the 1 hour plane flight back to Sydney. Once there we had a late dinner of Chinese, unpacked, and then went to bed.
Today Wes and I will be going to the city for some shopping and then will meet up with some of his high school friends for an Italian dinner. :)