We took a very nice tour of Melbourne (pronounced Melbun). The streets are very wide with room to spare for trams, sidewalks, cars, boulevard area and 6 lanes. They aren't only wide but also nice and clean and smooth. The architecture is also very unique and varied. The streets are all on a grid so getting around is very organized and due to wide roads and streets, have good traffic patterns. It is a very well planned which makes it very easy to get around the city. The expensive stores are uphill and the regular shopping is downhill.
The "Young and Jackson" bar has a famous painting by the name of "Chloe" named after the young lady who is painted. A 70 year old man painted this young lady in the nude by her request since she loved him. He in turn did not love her and she committed suicide. This is what caused so much excitement during the 1860s of that Victorian era.
The Queen Victoria Market used to be a cemetery area. They removed all of the bodies or as many as they could, since people did not want to live too close to a cemetery. The market has more than what you might want or ever need.
We checked out a lovely park that was given to Melbourne by the U.S.A. The fountain comes downward more like a shower. It is said to wash away all of the dirty deeds of the politicians or called the "politician shower".
We also saw some beautiful birds on a tree right downtown Melbourne. Supposedly they are not only beautiful but rare and called Roselas. Usually they are a country bird but today in the city.
St. Patrick's cathedral is typical gothic style built out of blue stone from volcanic stone which is very very hard to carve. It took about 50 years to build. The color of the blue stone is actually brown in color. St Mary MacKillop (who used to live across the street from the cathedral) was instrumental in developing orphanages throughout Australia and New Zealand. She is the first saint of Australia. Her orphanages were initially for the children who were both white and Aboriginie who did not fit in either culture and were abandoned.
We then went to the Fitzroy Gardens and saw lovely plants and a memorial to JFK since he was the 1st US president to visit Australia. There was a Fairy tree and a miniature Tudor village. These gardens are like a Central Park as far as nice walking paths and such. The possums are eating at the trees so lots of trees have wide bands of metal around them to protect them. These possums have no native predators so they have really over produced and have tuberculosis which is more of a problem.
I will post this before it is too cumbersome to actually post. I will try to post something from the penguin parade if possible. This is all at night so not so sure of it being a Kodak moment.
Location:Flinders Street,Melbourne,Australia
