Day Two Melbourne

  It has been a very full and fun day - the only unfortunate part was my camera battery needing to be recharged in the middle of it, so photo opportunities after that had to be ignored, though I did buy a disposable camera and attempted to take some pictures.  It will be interesting to see if they come out, especially as the camera was marked down because they were beyond their sell-by date.
    After breakfast we got on the coach and drove around the city, seeing such sights as Carlton Gardens, the Parliament building, the old Windsor Hotel and Flinders Station, a beautiful, big old train station.  We stopped at the old Melbourne Gaol for a very interesting guided tour.  The gaol was heralded in its day for making the attempt to provide steps for helping prisoners and hopefully preventing them from reoffending.  We heard about Ned Kelly, Australia's most notorious criminal, and saw death masks made of him and many other of the executed prisoners.  Also saw the hanging beam and lever for "The Drop".
     The next stop was to a place where they sell opals - Australia is famous for its opal mines.  We sat in a replica of a miner's hut and watched a short video about opals and mining and then were turned loose in the shop, presumably to buy vast quantities of opals.  Not many takers.  We went to see St. Patrick's Cathedral, a very large and beautiful church that unusually has an Aboriginal Message Stick inside on the wall - very rare that they would have recognised and respected the native peoples so long ago.  We drove past Fitzroy Gardens, where the little home of Captain James Cook's parent was brought all the way from Cornwall and meticulously put together for some strange reason.
      We saw the Sports Complex, MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), Rod Laver Tennis Arena.  This complex was the main venue for the 1956 Olympics and is also used for the Commonwealth Games.  
      The Shrine of Remembrance is a beautiful place originally commemorating those who died in the Great War but also expanded to include WWII, especially ANZAC, the first time Australia and New Zealand fought together under the British, and especially remembering Gallipoli.  One of the highlights was the Service of Remembrance - in a large room there is a box with a recessed stone (so you have to look at it with bowed head) that says, "Greater Love Hath No Man".  The designers made all this so that on Remembrance Day the light from the sun through the ceiling would move across the stone  and light up the word "love".  We walked up many stairs to an outside balcony for some lovely views (of course my camera had already pooped out by then).
     We saw the port area and also a sign saying, "Ladies for Gentlemen" - brothels.  Prostitution is legal here but not streetwalking or kerb crawling.  We saw much more but this is already getting very long.  After returning briefly to the hotel we walked with Roxanne through the laneways, the very crowded and busy alleyways tucked between main streets.  There are two very lovely and interesting arcade courts - Royal Court and Block Court.  It was free time and Sunny, Judy and I made our way to Southgate, along the Yarra River (Yarra means "flowing water").  It reminds me of the walk in London that goes by the Tate Modern - lots of restaurants, shops, street theatre, and those annoying people who cover themselves in one colour and stand for hours and then move.  It is amazing how many people are out and about here - Melbourne seems to be a very young and vibrant city but doesn't have a huge city feel to it.  We walked back to Block Court where we had seen a lovely small restaurant called the Hopetoun Tea Rooms - we had a delicious meal in a beautiful setting.  We did some window shopping and then back to the hotel.  
    This evening Judy called and we went out wandering.  We are leaving very early tomorrow morning (7:15 on the coach for the airport and on to Adelaide), but we wanted to do a little walking at night.  We wandered to this fabulous shopping mall that used to be a shot factory (ammunition made there) complete with a shot tower that formed the inside of the roof.  Very cool!  We looked around and then walked out onto another street and went up to two guys to ask which street it was.  The guys were Aussies but not from here - they were visiting from near Brisbane - and we ended up having a long and fun conversation with them on the street.  They were really friendly, as are so many people here, especially with visitors.
     I have packed up and am hoping to get a little sleep tonight - hold the fire alarms.  Last night about an hour after I had gotten to sleep there was a very loud alarm which turned out to be false, but I had to get dressed, figure out what to take down with me, etc. and stand around until the all-clear.  I don't really feel like I have any jetlag, which is a miracle.
     On to Adelaide.....