Page 5 of 11
Melbourne, Australia
Let the summer go, let tomorrow take care of itself
This was not my first time in Australia but it was my first time in Melbourne (not counting the airport), and after a week in Shanghai and Beijing and Badaling, it was especially nice to be somewhere I could drink the tap water and breathe some clean air. On Monday in China, it was cold and smoggy and misty, and the next day (and after an 11 hour overnight flight) I woke up to a beautiful, sunny, warm spring Tuesday in a country and a continent that is always more fun than anywhere probably should be.
When planning the trip, I had some trouble booking a hotel in Melbourne but thought nothing of it. I checked to make sure that I wasn't traveling on an Australian National Holiday but otherwise kind of forgot about it. It was when I was in the airport lounge in Shanghai waiting for my flight and skimming again through a guidebook on my iPad that I finally discovered an awful truth. The day that I was arriving in Melbourne was the first Tuesday in November and while it was not an Australian National Holiday (remember I had already checked for that), it was a holiday in the City of Melbourne and the State of Victoria. It was Melbourne Cup Day, a spring tradition that seems suspiciously like the Kentucky Derby, except with more Australians. Everything was closed (which was fine actually) and all throughout the city, women dressed up and wore increasingly odd and involved hats (which really wasn't a problem either). And since it was a holiday for the locals anyway, I took it as some sort of sign that maybe, just maybe, I should just enjoy the day off myself for once.
The heart of the city is on the Yarra River and built on a platform over the railway tracks. Federation Square is an open plaza where Australians hang out (something quite honestly they excel at) and is filled with museums and theatres and things that you probably will end up skipping anyway, especially on a state holiday. What it does have though are a few spectacular public spaces, including this one. Spilling out onto Flinders Street and protected by a floating box that is neither actually floating nor actually a box, the atrium at Federation Square is a wonderful place to just hang out and feel like a local.
Architecturally speaking, Federation Square is a real highlight of Melbourne and, quite possibly, the real highlight of Melbourne.
Across the street from the major open air plaza at Federation Square is Flinders Street Station, Melbourne's historic railway station and probably a good place for wedding photos.
The building is gorgeous on the outside and ok on the inside, although you can't get too far without a rail ticket. It is also home to some of the best fries I have ever had (at the wonderfully named "Lord of the Fries" chip shop stand) and eventually will be home to a massive structure being designed by Herzog & de Meuron. They won an international competition (beating out Zaha Hadid and Grimshaw) to redesign the back areas of the station and potentially heal a rare gash that remains in the city's fabric.
If you recall when the slideshow was in Shanghai (and the slideshow was like just in Shanghai), then you already know that I am all about observation decks. And while Melbourne is most definitely not Shanghai (which is not necessarily an insult), it does boast the tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere, which is still far below the heights we scaled in Shanghai.
This is the Melbourne Skydeck, 88 stories above the Tarra River, with great views north towards the CBD and Flinders Street Station and Federation Square and beyond.
Melbourne prides itself on its street art scene, although honestly the place is no 5 Pointz (and I guess since it was painted over, demolished and replaced buy a soul sucking residential tower, 5 Pointz is no longer 5 Pointz either). I had a map with some of the better street art locations and walked around trying to find them. There were some pieces that were better than others but nothing that was really all that impressive. I think that it goes back to the same reason that a fair amount of Australian rock music (although most certainly not all) can be forgettable. Often good art is produced from pain and (all things considered) it's hard to be in pain when you're in Australia.
I just went out of my way to say terrible things about Australian art, which (of course) is (probably) not meant as a blanket indictment of a country and continent, despite all indications to the contrary. To prove this point, we're making a stop at the National Gallery of Victoria, the big art museum in the city, where instead of showing any of the art, we're looking at this picture of the lobby. Are we looking at this picture of the lobby because it's the best representation of the building, or are we intentionally avoiding including a picture of the art because, well, you know. I guess some questions (probably) have no answer.
Enough of all of this veiled negativity. I love Australia and Australians, and really appreciated my stopover in Melbourne, where even the sign warning you that you're about to be killed by a tram features a Rhinoceros on a skateboard. Try beating that, China.
