Sunrise is at 5:44am and sunset is 8:45pm. It's like White Nights here. Such a contrast from Vancouver WA. We were up about 6:30AM and needing caffeine. Maybe we should have gone to sleep earlier. We were lights off at 8:40 but awake a few times at night. Kathi is still feeling tired. We have a 6:30am flight to Hobart in a couple of days, so we don't want to rotate too much immediately. Construction work near the hotel continues into the night past 9pm and resumes at 6:30am. Helps to get us up early ;-)
At 9:30AM we are off for breakie. The temperature is 55°F and the sun is coming out. We lucked out with an excellent pick for our first breakfast. It was really good. What an excellent first breakfast in Melboune. We're beginning to think Melbourne (perhaps Australia in general) has some of the best food and coffee in the world.
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| but first more interesting tall buildings on the way to breakfast |
at 10:15 we are done with breakfast and heading off to walk about a mile, past the state library, to the museum
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| Brick Lane is tucked in the middle of downtown highrises |
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| such a pretty street. "Brick Lane" is such an apropriate name |
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| Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens |
at about 11:40am we are in the Melbourne Museum of Natural History and Culture
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| forest gallery inside the museum, partially closed, but still nice |
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| This Triceritops is the star of the Museum's collection |
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| Really interesting cut and polished slab of iron ore |
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| Python skelaton |
2:20pm walk to Parliament House, couldn't really see it due to security fencing
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| This colorful dude was riding a train of old bikes around for fun |
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| drinks, meat pie, and bread |
The Melbourne Metro Tunnel project is Melbourne's "big dig". They are putting in a new 9km subway tunnel line and five new stations. That's what all the digging is under/near our hotel is about.
"To keep Swanston Street open and trams running while the Metro Tunnel is built, access shafts up to 11 storeys deep have been dug adjacent to Swanston Street at Franklin Street (east and west of Swanston Street), A'Beckett Street, La Trobe and Little La Trobe streets, City Square, Federation Square and behind Young and Jackson Hotel." yeah, our hotel is on Little La Trobe street. So that access shaft they are pulling rock up through and trucking off is 11 storeys deep!
Just across this bridge is the Melbourne University Boat Club and Royal Botanic Gardens / Melbourne Gardens Victoria / Alexandra Gardens
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| Rowing on Yarra with coaching from bike/bull horn on path |
These gardens are really nice. We walked around the lake/pond, but we were getting very tired, so we stopped a lot on the benches.
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| I love these huge buttress trunk trees, sort of like banyans but without the descending roots |
Back across the river, heading back for some dinner and sleep
we arrived back at the hotel about 8pm after walking 18,000 steps today!
After crossing over the river then under the railway at Flinder's Street Station, we found dinner at the Ginger Olive Restaurant and Grill
