Melbourne: Free Day

The next day we strolled all over the fucking place. Remember when I mentioned that what I love to do is meander around cities with kind of a destination in mind, and it's usually far enough away to have people blanch and say "You're walking all THAT way?" Well, yes. And I would run all that way too if I did any significant running on this vacation (which I did not).

So we started out downtown, checking out some of Melbourne's street art and laneways. I really liked Melbourne. It's the NYC to Sydney's LA.

Crocheted tree cozies. They get cold!

This is not street art, but I LOVE the crosswalk signs in Australia. LOVE. It's sort of Monopoly guy meets safety.

I took this one for my Facebook profile pic. But that means I'd have to get rid of the cat photo I currently have and I'm not sure I can bear to do that...

Me and my dental work:

We walked to the South Melbourne market and I saw this and thought Portland could use it, too:

After the market, we walked to Phillip Bay and St. Kilda. It was maybe about a three mile walk the way we did it. Gorgeous day. Abundant sun. Happy-making. Saw some beautiful houses. They love their lacy iron work.

Once we got to Phillip Bay, we spent a lot of time watching a fisherman reel in his line but not catching anything. It was boring but we were on vacation so who cares? No photos of that, but here is the coastline and Justin. In shorts.

Then we walked to the St. Kilda neighborhood and found a place for a reasonable lunch (I can't remember the name, but they had lots of pizzas--some even gf!--and salads. On a side note, I was impressed by how gluten-considerate they were throughout everywhere we went in Oz...even the places you wouldn't expect!).

We caught the streetcar for a few stops back into town and disembarked at the Shrine of Remembrance. They like their war memorials in Australia, and this one is pretty damn striking and worth a visit.

Parts of the inside are very Indiana Jones:

Obligatory self-portrait:

That evening, we went for a swim at the hotel and had a late dinner at a trendy izakaya that was so not worth it but it was a terrific time. Really, a delicious, lovely, fantastic day. I heart Melbourne for allowing us to have this.

Last free day in Melbourne coming up!