Meandering Through Melbourne

earlier this week (tuesday) i decided it was time to check out the big city. melbourne is australia's second largest city behind sydney.

after about an hour and a bit on the light rail train i had arrived at flinder's street station (a beautiful building in itself...look it up!) at noon from where i would set out for the day. luckily across the street is melb's main info centre for tourists.

i started off at the national gallery of victoria (victoria is the state that melbourne is in). this gallery is made up of australian art on four floors and is free. there is also another whole building dedicated to international art but is closed on tuesdays (i'll go back for that one though - it's free too). i found the aboriginal and contemporary art most intersting. there is one floor nearly all dedicated to realisitc landscapes. snore! a shot of the indoor/outdoor space in front of the gallery. it was filled with cafes and shops.

i explored back laneways and alleys that are home to some of the best tag (graffiti) work in the world. these side lanes that are nestled full of cafes and restaurants have embraced it (as opposed to fighting it). these lanes reminded me a bit of what you might find in some parts of old montreal except way more expansive. melbourne has the charm of montreal but with a more big city/metropolitan feel. at the same time it is also softer, lacking a certain hardness or convitction (whatever that means to you).

i encountered two different examples of buildings that were built around older significant buildings. this way they preserve the building (as the government has ordered) and get a bang for their property development buck. there was a huge building (covering about half a city block) that completely ate up this beautiful place. i admit i thought the whole idea was kinda cool, didn't bother me at all. :)

my fav moment of the day comes from an unexpected art installation behind the huge arts centre. it was entitled 'coming and going'. random and delightful.

i then walked the entire CBD (central business district - for those unfamiliar). i passed by some amazingly tall buildings, the supereme court, many older victorian style buildings, amazing indoor/outdoor shopping plazas/arcades/malls. suffice to say i packed in more into one long afternoon than most tourists would see in three days. by the time i got home at 8pm i was totally spent but very pleased with what i had all accomplished.

i don't know if i'll go back to the city for a while seeing as though i plan to stay close to downtown (in st. kilda) for the last week of the month. the next few days will be filled with hikes in the dandenongs which i'll post about very soon! but tuesday will be a day off.

one of the last buildings of the day i went to see was melb's tallest: eureka tower. colour accent setting on camera was used.