Monday, November 20, 2006
13th November 2006 Melbourne city, Away alone
13th November (Monday)
My first day on my own in the big metropolis. I get up early and Jon gives me a lift to Kew where he works and I hop on a tram bound for the city centre. $6.10 for an all day rover tram ticket, not bad. Get off at Flinders and Elizabeth and head for Australia on Collins and some breakfast in the food court there. Tried to logon to the free wireless internet service the y have but it is so sporadic I give up in frustration. No uploading of photos and blog again! Go for a walk following one of the Melbourne Tourist offices suggested tours but do it by myself. Walk through small arcades like Block and look at shops and arcades built back in the 1870’s In that distinctive Victorian style. There is an old tea and coffee shop that apparently has barely changed since those days and I think I saw one of the original 1870 customers sitting in the corner with her tea and scones! As you walk through Melbourne it becomes clear that an awful lot of modern building has taken place but whilst managing to leave a considerable amount of historical buildings untouched and they sit together in a typically unique Melbourne way. Walk past the huge and imposing old Post Office on Collins St and get a couple of good photos. Find a building called the Manchester Order of the Oddfellows, strange but reassuring to find so many familiar names from home on the opposite side of the world.
As a small aside it is very odd when looking at the descriptions given to houses which are for sale. Especially the one which describes the house and rear garden as “ideally located in a North facing direction.” ? !! You can work it out for yourself.
Found myself on Swanston St and a parade of shops which included “Arthur Daley’s Famous Warehouse Store”. Couldn’t resist having a look. Well it was the stack ‘em high sell ‘em cheap option and there were 4 floors of it. Looked hard but couldn’t see Terry. Next door was a similar shop but not quite so cheap and next door to that was another one selling Christmas cards at 5 for $1. Was very tempted! Next to that was ……. Another Arthur Daly Discount Warehouse store! Made my way to an exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Federation Sq which was called Eyes, Lies and Illusions. This exhibition explores and displays the ways in which the art and science of visual perception has been used to deceive and entertain us down the centuries. Displays covering tricks of the light, perspectives, optical trickery and the precursor to the true moving image, sequential photographs or flip books. On of the displays was about 50 or so table tennis balls suspended from the ceiling at various heights and distances from each other to form a sort of one dimensial block. Projected onto the balls was the image of an eye and as you watched the display they appeared to blink. Quite intriguing and strangely hypnotic. One other display was swarms of bees being projected onto other displays periodically so you didn’t actually know when or where it was about to happen. A lady actually stopped one of the display attendants and said there was a funny noise in the exhibition which was interfering with her concentration and could they locate it and turn it off!
Left the exhibition at about 3.30 and returned to a little café I had noticed earlier in the day in a small lane off Block Alley and ordered Chocolate Mud Pie and a glass of house red. The wine was delicious, a Cabernet Sauvignon and just what the palate wanted. The mud pie was the size of a house! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, beware of the portions here.
Met Jon after work and I got a Thai take away on the way home, mixed meats soup, chicken pepper and garlic and special Thai rice. I am so tired I only drank the soup and ate a small piece of the rice and chicken and then I went to bed. Woos.
My first day on my own in the big metropolis. I get up early and Jon gives me a lift to Kew where he works and I hop on a tram bound for the city centre. $6.10 for an all day rover tram ticket, not bad. Get off at Flinders and Elizabeth and head for Australia on Collins and some breakfast in the food court there. Tried to logon to the free wireless internet service the y have but it is so sporadic I give up in frustration. No uploading of photos and blog again! Go for a walk following one of the Melbourne Tourist offices suggested tours but do it by myself. Walk through small arcades like Block and look at shops and arcades built back in the 1870’s In that distinctive Victorian style. There is an old tea and coffee shop that apparently has barely changed since those days and I think I saw one of the original 1870 customers sitting in the corner with her tea and scones! As you walk through Melbourne it becomes clear that an awful lot of modern building has taken place but whilst managing to leave a considerable amount of historical buildings untouched and they sit together in a typically unique Melbourne way. Walk past the huge and imposing old Post Office on Collins St and get a couple of good photos. Find a building called the Manchester Order of the Oddfellows, strange but reassuring to find so many familiar names from home on the opposite side of the world.
As a small aside it is very odd when looking at the descriptions given to houses which are for sale. Especially the one which describes the house and rear garden as “ideally located in a North facing direction.” ? !! You can work it out for yourself.
Found myself on Swanston St and a parade of shops which included “Arthur Daley’s Famous Warehouse Store”. Couldn’t resist having a look. Well it was the stack ‘em high sell ‘em cheap option and there were 4 floors of it. Looked hard but couldn’t see Terry. Next door was a similar shop but not quite so cheap and next door to that was another one selling Christmas cards at 5 for $1. Was very tempted! Next to that was ……. Another Arthur Daly Discount Warehouse store! Made my way to an exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Federation Sq which was called Eyes, Lies and Illusions. This exhibition explores and displays the ways in which the art and science of visual perception has been used to deceive and entertain us down the centuries. Displays covering tricks of the light, perspectives, optical trickery and the precursor to the true moving image, sequential photographs or flip books. On of the displays was about 50 or so table tennis balls suspended from the ceiling at various heights and distances from each other to form a sort of one dimensial block. Projected onto the balls was the image of an eye and as you watched the display they appeared to blink. Quite intriguing and strangely hypnotic. One other display was swarms of bees being projected onto other displays periodically so you didn’t actually know when or where it was about to happen. A lady actually stopped one of the display attendants and said there was a funny noise in the exhibition which was interfering with her concentration and could they locate it and turn it off!
Left the exhibition at about 3.30 and returned to a little café I had noticed earlier in the day in a small lane off Block Alley and ordered Chocolate Mud Pie and a glass of house red. The wine was delicious, a Cabernet Sauvignon and just what the palate wanted. The mud pie was the size of a house! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, beware of the portions here.
Met Jon after work and I got a Thai take away on the way home, mixed meats soup, chicken pepper and garlic and special Thai rice. I am so tired I only drank the soup and ate a small piece of the rice and chicken and then I went to bed. Woos.
# posted by desmond22 @ 11:16 pm 
