Melbourne

Standing on top of the world and being astonished by books

The Hellenic Museum

Arriving in Melbourne, we had lots and lots of plans, what we wanted to see - the classic tourist program. But on our first little walk around the city, we saw the advertisement for the "gods, myths and mortals" exhibition in the Hellenic Museum. So we changed our plans - plans are made to be changed.
We were the only guests in the museum and slowly we realised, why. The old vases and clothes and jewelry were very interesting and beautiful but after 30 minutes, we were done, had seen everything and read most of the information.

Using the tram - for free!

A Free Tram Ride :)

To get to know the city a bit better, we decided to use the free tram! Yey, everywhere else, tourists pay more than locals for public transportation. Not here - the tourist tram is free. But - here again - we soon got to know, why. The noise, the tram made, was hurtful in the ears and it did not really go a good route. The speakers were poorly placed, so we didn't hear anything from the tourist information. In the end, we decided, that it was a great idea to have a free tourist tram, but the way, they did it, was unnecessary.

Fleeing from the city

A autumn-looking tree

Since both of us are not really city-people, our first stops in a city are always the parks and gardens. So we went through the Alexandra Gardens, the Victoria Gardens, through King's Domain to the Botanical Gardens - a place, that never disappoints in a city. And again: we were amazed by the plants, the shade (yey, fleeing not just from the city but also from the sun) and not so much by the lakes. Because of the heat they were completely taken over by algae.
The next day, we went for the Fitzroy Gardens to see Cooks Cottage. This was originally the home of James Cook's parents - built in 1755 in Yorkshire. After bringing it to Melbourne piece by piece and reconstructing it, it was opened for tourists in 1934.

Cooks Cottage

On our way to this cottage, we passed by the "conservatory" - a green house full of flowers. Also there was a tree which looked like it was autumn. But when we came closer, it turned out to be little red blossoms. Nature just is marvelous.

Standing on the edge and enjoying the view

For the evening we had something special planned. We got tickets for the Eureka Tower 88. It is the highest building lookout point on the southern hemisphere and "the edge experience" is the only one in the world. With 9 m/s we went up to the skydeck. From there we had an amazing view of the sunset! Then we went into the glass cube, that was pushed out of the building 3 m wide. For a second, our hearts stopped, when the filter of the glasses liftet and we saw, we were standing on nothing but glass - around 300 m above the ground.

The stunning view from the Eureka Tower Skydeck 88

Books and books and books

Those fantastic old books...

Another quick stop was at the State Library of Victoria. Libraries are always a good stop in a city. Normally I just enjoy the piece and quite there, the feeling of a thousand books watching me, while I watch them but this time... I was so astonished, so amazed, so awestruck! There was this big globe gallery - five stories high, where you could look down in the middle to see all those books. And in this gallery was an exhibition "mirror of the world - books and ideas" full of old books, lovely done, inspirational quotes from famous authors, publishers and printers. I had to sit down for a moment, because I was so overwhelmed from this feeling, all those fantastic books, those lovely quotes, those stunning views gave me.

Oh you wonderful globe gallery in the State Library of Victoria

Back to the river

The lovely evening view of Melbourne

The last evening we spent in South Bank, strolling alongside the river, watching street artists play music, draw their pictures, making caricatures, juggling with flaming torches or swallowing swords. This side of the river opens up to a gorgeous view of the city. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to Melbourne.

Please, forgive me for all my spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes!! My mother tongue is German.