Melbourne Day 2 12/09/2012

I started the day early considering last night’s champagne and after getting some breakfast from Coles, I had a look around Flagstaff Gardens. It’s on a hill and you have a great view on the harbor and the skyline of Melbourne. My plan was to go to Victoria Market next and buy some fruit but I had forgotten that there is no market on Wednesdays, so I just walked through the almost empty halls quickly and then went back to the city. I took a ride on the City Circle Tram back to the hostel and wanted to get a “short nap”, but it kind of turned into a proper four-hour sleeping session. In the afternoon, I took photos of Flinders Street Station, which is really beautiful with its golden and red stone walls (also, 20 points for Gryffindor, please!). Right across the street you find St.Paul’s Cathedral, so I took pictures of that as well and spent some time inside. They have beautiful, colorful windows and lots of Memorial plates. Also, no dead body was rolled in, which was a big plus.

Afterwards, I went for a very long walk along the Yarra River to look at all the famous sports sights. The Melbourne Cricket Grounds, where they also hold the Australian Football League final, is massive and can compete with any of the NFL stadiums in the States. When you walk over a bridge next to the MCG, you get to Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open take place in January. On the “Walk of Champions”, I took pictures of the pictures of some of the players. Most importantly that of Safin 2005, which was the first ever tennis match I watched on TV, when he beat Lleyton Hewitt if I remember correctly. Also took heaps of photos of Rod Laver Arena, which is huge considering that there is still only a standard-size tennis court in the middle. I felt obliged to also photograph some of the former Olympic venues; but only from a distance as I was too lazy to walk any further.

On my way back, I stopped and watched a rowing club practice on the Yarra River, before I went for a stroll through Southbank. After dark, I grabbed my laptop and went to the State Library for free wifi again. It’s one of my favorite places in Melbourne already. On the way back, I got soaked because it was raining so hard and tram services stopped at 6pm that day.