Cloudy, cool, a couple of drops of rain, but not enough to stop us from walking along the Yarra River. Melbourne is situated where the Yarra River flows into Port Philip Bay.
There is a lovely walk along the river. Nice shops, very peaceful. It's hard to believe you are in the center of a modern city of 4 million people. Nothing like the hectic pace of downtown Toronto.
The more I see of Melbourne the more I'm impressed. It is very clean, very visitor friendly, and very appealing. It doesn't have that "canyon" feeling Toronto has. It is much more pedestrian friendly.
Within a 20 minute walk there are large parks, including the Botanical Gardens, which are outstanding. It's like having a couple of High Parks, right in the center of Toronto.
There are also a large number of public art pieces on the streets. Some are quite whimsical. There is one white office building that has two huge golden bumble bees, adorning it.
There is a bridge that has ten large structures showing various stages of Australian history.
Sports is a big thing in Australia. The main ones are cricket and Austalian Rules Football. Rugby isn't far behind. Melbourne also has professional soccer and basketball teams.
There are three large stadiums right downtown. The largest is the cricket stadium that seats over a hundred thousand. It's record is 136 000. Next to it is the Rod Laver Tennis Stadium, that seats almost 15 000. ARF, the most popular sport, is played at the Etihad Stadium. This stadium has a capacity of 54000.
All three are within walking distance of the center.
In addition to that the Immigration Museum, the Ian Potter Gallery, and the Victoria Art Gallery are all there.
The other amazing thing is that the gardens and museums are all free.
I don't know why, but, this week, seniors travelled free, on all public transports.
My kind of city!!
As I said before, the transportation system is fantastic. The Metro is a train system, like our Go trains, that has 16 lines into the CBD, on 830 km of track, above ground. Almost 700 000 passengers use it every weekday.
Melbourne also has the largest tram system in the world.
Toronto eat your heart out!
One thing I have observed is that Australians are close to Canadians, on the obesity scale. It's interesting, I have met a lot of Australians, wherever I have travelled, and they have all been fit and slim. I have discovered that the average Australian doesn't travel, either that or there is a Phys Ed test you have to pass, before you get a passport.
There are just as many "hefty" people here as in Canada.
Only two more days left before we leave Melbourne. It's been a pleasure.
Ralf
There is a lovely walk along the river. Nice shops, very peaceful. It's hard to believe you are in the center of a modern city of 4 million people. Nothing like the hectic pace of downtown Toronto.
The more I see of Melbourne the more I'm impressed. It is very clean, very visitor friendly, and very appealing. It doesn't have that "canyon" feeling Toronto has. It is much more pedestrian friendly.
Within a 20 minute walk there are large parks, including the Botanical Gardens, which are outstanding. It's like having a couple of High Parks, right in the center of Toronto.
There are also a large number of public art pieces on the streets. Some are quite whimsical. There is one white office building that has two huge golden bumble bees, adorning it.
There is a bridge that has ten large structures showing various stages of Australian history.
Sports is a big thing in Australia. The main ones are cricket and Austalian Rules Football. Rugby isn't far behind. Melbourne also has professional soccer and basketball teams.
There are three large stadiums right downtown. The largest is the cricket stadium that seats over a hundred thousand. It's record is 136 000. Next to it is the Rod Laver Tennis Stadium, that seats almost 15 000. ARF, the most popular sport, is played at the Etihad Stadium. This stadium has a capacity of 54000.
All three are within walking distance of the center.
In addition to that the Immigration Museum, the Ian Potter Gallery, and the Victoria Art Gallery are all there.
The other amazing thing is that the gardens and museums are all free.
I don't know why, but, this week, seniors travelled free, on all public transports.
My kind of city!!
As I said before, the transportation system is fantastic. The Metro is a train system, like our Go trains, that has 16 lines into the CBD, on 830 km of track, above ground. Almost 700 000 passengers use it every weekday.
Melbourne also has the largest tram system in the world.
Toronto eat your heart out!
One thing I have observed is that Australians are close to Canadians, on the obesity scale. It's interesting, I have met a lot of Australians, wherever I have travelled, and they have all been fit and slim. I have discovered that the average Australian doesn't travel, either that or there is a Phys Ed test you have to pass, before you get a passport.
There are just as many "hefty" people here as in Canada.
Only two more days left before we leave Melbourne. It's been a pleasure.
Ralf
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