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Melbourne was a very interesting cosmopolitan, architecturally interesting city, easy to get around in without a car. We were only there for two days, but we got a pretty good taste of it (including an awesome Sardinian restaurant where instead of ordering we were served what they thought we should have).
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The Melbourne Center, a shopping center, has these striking geometric elements visible from the outside. |
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The cone was build around a shot factory that had been designated a historical landmark -- an innovative way of not letting history interfere with development. |
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These guys are in a hundred-year-old shopping center, one of the very first shopping arcades, one of several in downtown Melbourne. |
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Melbourne has a strong cafe culture. |
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Public art in the Fitzroy district. |
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The history of fire, as a mural on the main fire station. |
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Darth Vader Madonna in St. Patrick's Cathedral. |
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The brand new Federation Square, a riverside complex of museums, stores, and restaurants. Much more whimsical architecture than Sydney. |
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The sidewalk outside the library. |
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A structure outside the Melbourne Museum. |
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There are actually places in downtown Melbourne where skating is specifically allowed -- this map shows you where. |
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Another palimpsest poster. |
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Osama Claus. |
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Desserts by the beach in St. Kilda. |
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You are being watched. The US probably has as many video cameras watching people as Australia, but in Australia they're very upfront about it -- there are signs pointing it out everywhere. The speed limits (and red lights) are enforced by speed cameras, as they are in South Africa, but I get the feeling that they're more pervasively implemented in Australia because I never saw anyone going more than 10 kph over any speed limit in Australia and I was passed constantly in South Africa by people going very fast. You really feel like you're being nagged after awhile -- there's just sign after sign after sign that speed cameras are used, speed camera ahead, blah blah blah. There was a billboard showing a speedometer with the speed limit 100 indicated and the needle pointing to 130 and the caption "You're going $524". When we arrived in Melbourne, the Avis lady told us about how complicated it is to use the tollway, which doesn't have toll booths and only uses cameras. We decided to get off at the beginning of the toll segment and just go on the normal street -- immediately upon arriving the normal street we encountered a sobriety checkpoint, where I was waved over and asked for "just one long continuous breath, please" -- no ID or anything; I was going again seconds later (a few hours after wine tasting in Tasmania). I guess this is how they encourage use of the tollway. |
