Day 74: Melbourne, this Time with Slightly Less Walking and More
Drinking
After spending much of yesterday on our feet, walking around
Melbourne, seeing the city by foot, on Wednesday, Lisa and I took it a bit
slower. We only got into the city around 11:30, both of us sleeping in; I slept
in because I like to, and she slept in because she had taken the day off and
wanted to take full advantage. Still we accomplished enough for me to reliably
say that I’ve seen Melbourne quite well. I don’t know if it’s a compliment or
an insult to say you can see major international city in just two days from the
hours of 11-6, but I’ll take it as a compliment to Melbourne’s relaxed
lifestyle.
We were meeting my Aunt Rosita (Lisa’s mother) for lunch at
12:30, so we didn’t really have much time to conclude our walking tour, but we
managed to fit in the last part of the CBD that I hadn’t seen. Melbourne’s
Parliament area is another bastion of open space, but this time the Parliament
and Government of Victoria buildings were spread out across gardens and swaths
of green, green grass. Nearby are a bunch of tall buildings, housing most of
the offices of the financial institutions in Melbourne. Behind the currently
under renovation Parliament building (the ‘currently under renovation’ thing
would rear its ugly head once more), was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which has
about as much of the regal look of the St. Patrick’s in New York (if, of
course, that St. Patrick’s isn’t
under scaffold-fronted renovation), but without the large buildings obfuscating
its view.
After that walking tour of the Parliament area, we met my Aunt
for lunch at Red Dragon, a Yum Cha (what the Australians call Dim Sum – other countries
may call it this as well) joint near Parliament at the edge of Melbourne large,
and expanding, Chinatown. Red Dragon was like most Yum Cha places, with the
trolleys that push the little plates around, the constant stream of these
trolleys, and the dour trolley-pushers that speak little English to boot. The final
part of that became a problem when we were waiting for the dumpling trolley,
and asked the person who was pushing the trolley with ‘Prawn Tofu’ and ‘Sambal
Eggplant’, but instead of heeding to our request, she just responded with ‘Prawn
Tofu… Eggplant’ over and over again, as if those were the only words in English
she knew. Anyway, we finally got the dumpling trolley soon after, and I am 90%
sure the same lady was the one pushing it, but who knows? Overall, the meal was
quite good, with most of the little plates we picked up being quite tasty, and
before we knew it, it was close to 1:30, and my Aunt had to return to work, and
Lisa and I return to the streets of Melbourne.
Lisa and I walked across the bridge over the Yarra River
near Fed Square and Flinders Street station, passed the familiar Arts Center,
and entered a now open National Gallery of Victoria – International, past its
large water(f)wall (I have no idea what to call it) and into its large main
atrium. I’m not that big into museums in countries without extensive histories
or countries in Europe, but the highly-rated NGV-I seemed like a museum worth
visiting. Little did we know, though, just how large that rectangular building
was. Like Hermoine’s magical bag in the last Harry Potter (I know, obscure
reference), the hallways and exhibits of the NGV-I were far too deep to be
possible. Each room begat another two rooms, with more and more artwork to
peruse. The museum was essentially split into two areas, a European Art area and
an Asian Art area. Like one would expect, the Asian art area was far older and
mostly sculpture and floral work, while the European section was hundreds of
versions of Jesus, Mother Mary, Saint X., or random European men and women who
were paid to stand for portraits. Not that they were bad, as most of the it was
quite good, but European Artwork quickly becomes repetitive. I will give the
NGV-I heaps of credit for one thing, though. Their presentation is perfect,
with clean painted walls uncluttered with pictures that are kept apart from
each other. There is no information overload at the NGV-I exhibits like there
is in Florence. Anyway, a good 90 minutes after we entered we were done with the
NGV-I, ready to return to the streets.
Nearby the NGV-I is the front end of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, a giant section of Melbourne that is far too big to walk around. Our destination was the Shrine of Remembrance, the monument erected in remembrance of the Australian soldiers lost in battle during World War II (and other wars that I’ve forgotten since my AP World History days – in honesty, I didn’t remember the Australians taking part in World War II). The shrine is a large pyramidal structure at the end of a long, well manicured walkway. It is quite a stunning sight to see that triangular shrine rise from the ground in an isolated corner of Melbourne. The view back towards the city is also really nice from Melbourne. I may be forgetting like thirty cities when I make this exclamation, but I can’t think of a city with better internal sightlines than Melbourne.
After we finished taking the requisite pictures at the
Shrine, we were done with Melbourne proper outside of the sports related stuff
that I will be doing on Friday. Seeing this and seeing the beautiful Melbourne
weather and the lack of a reason to return home, Lisa and I saddled up to the
World Bar on the South Bank, near the Eureka Tower. The World Bar, one of a
string of bars and restaurants that line the riverfront, gave us a great view
of the city on the other side of the river, a good happy hour deal to take
advantage of, and Lisa full-view of her work building where her colleagues were
slaving away as she comically sipped wine half a km away. Like most bars in
Australia, they had a wide array of beers to choose from, so I enjoyed a half
pint of two different ones. Australia makes some really good ales, and even
though I usually don’t have Ales, I’ve been on bit of an Ale kick lately. Once
again, they didn’t disappoint.
When we were done with our Irish Tea (similar to my ‘Irish
Breakfast’ of beer back in South Africa), Lisa returned home to get ready for
her weekly tennis while I had a few hours to kill before I would meet my cousin
(the same one from Sydney) for a quick early dinner before he jets off to
Sydney on business. He was staying at the Westin, which brought a strange perverse
memory back to my mind. Two summers ago when I was in Mumbai, I went with Robin
to the Taj trying to explore the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Seeing me in (from what I
remember) full beard, they didn’t let Robin and me in. We claimed we were
meeting a cousin of mine, the same cousin who I was about to meet at the Westin
Melbourne, telling the security guard that he was staying in some room or the
other. Of course, calling our bluff, he radioed in to see if my cousin was
actually staying at that room, which of course he wasn’t, and we were turned
away. Robin and I came back later that evening with Robin’s mom, and of course,
seeing a woman in the group, we were ushered in without an ounce of fuss from
the same security guard.
Anyway, as I considered my next move, I headed back to Fed
Square, walked by a score of people watching some Hindi Movie on the big screen
there (part of ‘Bollywood Week’), and settled into a square-facing table at
Beer Deluxe, to try some more of their exhaustive menu. Once again, the beer
was good, the view was great, and the weather was perfect. I’ve been told that
the weather this time of year in Melbourne is usually nowhere near this good, but
so far I’ve had absolutely perfect weather in Melbourne, with nary a cloud nor
a shiver. Just perfect.
Around 6:30, as I was lounging around the Westin, feeling like quite an outsider, I wondered if I could go up and try to same routine, but this time have the cousin actually stay at the hotel. Before I could act on this, he walked in and we had a quick dinner at Straits of Malaysia, another fast-casual Malaysian joint in Melbourne’s CBD. They had roti canai, as is standard of any Malaysian restaurant outside of Malaysia, and it was quite good, as was catching up with him in Melbourne. Soon enough he had to leave for the airport and I had to leave for home. I reached my Aunt and Uncle’s at 9:30, ready for a late snack and a good sleep after two short, but walk-filled days exploring Melbourne.
