Melbourne Thursday 2.14.08

Today is market day for us. We still have fruit and English muffins for brekkie and then wander a bit heading in the general direction of the "Queen Vic" market, the home of over a thousand vendors which is open five days and one night a week. The two acres of fresh fruits and vegetables is as good as we have seen anywhere and very impressive. The two acres of fresh meat and fish is the Seattle Pike Street Market on steroids and with mouths agape we walk trancelike looking at every type of land and sea creature imaginable, many of whom are in their original shapes. But the big deal is the two acre deli with hundreds of vendors who have every sort of meats, cheeses, olives, nuts, breads, spreads, chutneys, sauces, sausages, cooked, smoked, raw, and ready to eat. As soon as we walk in, John spots the 8-inch long bratwurst with a fresh fluffy bun and all the appropriate toppings. Since it is only 10:30 we bookmark the spot for later. Mary finds hummus in a dozen flavors and she is in her own version of food heaven.

We run out of time for the "retail" booths so John gets to retrace his steps to his bratwurst buddy and find a bench on the sidewalk outside for lunch. It is about a 15 minute walk back to our hotel for our 1:00 PM birthday call to our almost 6-year-old Mate. It is his birthday eve back home so with a 17-hour head start we are already celebrating on his behalf.

Our plan for this afternoon is to take the free "tourist bus" on its one hour route around some of the neighborhoods we have yet to see. When we reach our closest pick-up point, instead of a bus we find about 10,000 teachers marching down the middle of the street on their way to parliament. It seems the state governor has budgeted a 3-1/2 % raise while they are asking for 10% so this is a one-day strike. They are wearing mostly red to show their unity but we see a lot of red shirts sipping wine at sidewalk cafes along the route. Everybody enjoys a day off school.
When the bus finally struggles through, it is packed (residual backup) so we jam in and get through about half the route before we bail at southbank.

This is the south side of the Yarra River across from downtown and it certainly shows what a little imagination can do with planned development. It is high rise offices, hotels and entertainment set back from a green area along the river with bike and walking paths and a first tier of restaurants and shops. The patio dining areas are packed at 2:00 and thousands of folks are milling around on a Thursday afternoon. We mill our way into the Crown Casino to see if Mary's luck is holding out but, alas, it is not to be. She drops a twenty in about five pulls and we haven't wasted much time. There are tons of Chinese folks playing a game we don't recognize but they all have little sheets of paper for keeping track of something and when the dealer tosses out a card everyone starts pounding the table and screaming. We scream too but don't know why. The next tour bus to come along has plenty of room so we finish the tour around the southern gardens and art district and we get dropped at Federation square. We spend a little more time in some downtown shops and get back to our hotel about 4:30, grab the laptop and head for the library for some internet work.

It is Valentine's Day and we have learned long ago that when traveling it is best to avoid restaurants at all cost on Feb. 14th. Way too much pressure. We are eating in tonight so John zips around the corner into Chinatown for some take-away while Mary sets a table and chills some more Adelaide wine. John decides to go Malaysian and asks the host for a recommendation. He suggests the Singapore noodles. John looks under "noodles and rice" and asks if the Fen Swah are Singapore Noodles. The host says, "no, it would be the next one down that says Singapore Noodles." Every culture has a smartass. The noodles are good and we have some mixed satay and salad with the chilled wine and no bad Valentine's day experience.

Since Melbourne is the cultural capital of Australia we are going to immerse ourselves in culture this evening. We have snared a couple front row balcony tickets to the theater for a production from the greatest of English playwrites. Yes, it is Spamalot. It is a very raucous show and we have a great time whcich we decide should be continued at the English pub, the "Elephant and Wheelbarrow" just down the street. There are a couple musicians who have figured out how to take classic rock songs and convert them to bluesy guitar and harmonica and the effect is very good for us, as are the pints. It was a very good day.

Today's local headline: Sorry Claim Herald Sun (the first claim is filed by an Aboriginal for damages based on yesterday's government apology)