Exploring on Foot

I set out to explore the Vic Market this morning. Only a short walk from the Graduate House, this was quite the experience. I don’t think I have ever been to a market this big. The open-air market is comprised of many pavilions and vendors come to sell their goods (including all sorts of foods, clothes, toys, crafts, etc.). It was a lot of fun to walk around and see what was available, though I am finding out that I need to slightly modify some of my American social habits. For example, when walking through a crowded aisle, I find that I instinctively tend to keep to the right whereas here, people tend to keep to the left (just like traffic on the roads). I have also had a few cases where I have been on a collision course with another person and I have gone right and they have gone left causing some minor collisions. Oh well, these things will sort themselves out eventually. It is fun to be able to see and experience the differences. Everything looks to be very expensive, but I have to keep reminding myself that the price basis for everything is 1 kilogram (compared to 1 pound in the U.S.). Since there are about 2.2 pounds in a kilogram (and factoring in the exchange rate) the prices didn’t seem too bad. I don’t really have the ability to cook anything at the Graduate House, which is unfortunate. But if I were able to, I could have had a field day picking out lots of different things at the market. I saw a few fruits and vegetables that I was unfamiliar with, but mostly things are pretty typical to what you would see in an American grocery store. I did notice that lamb is a big meat product here. They have probably as much lamb available as they do beef. I also saw kangaroo steaks for sale. At one place, they were selling skinned lamb heads and cow tongues. There was no mistaking what they were selling. It was kind of like, ‘Mary had a little lamb…oh wait…not anymore…” haha. Seriously though, it was pretty disgusting to see the skinned lamb heads sitting in the case.

I ate breakfast at a cute little local café. It was nice because I could sit there and read the local paper. The cold-spell in the U.S. is making news here right at the moment. It was also interesting to read a few articles about Tiger Woods and President Obama. It was refreshing to see that (at least in this paper) the reporting on Obama is void of much of the politically charged bias that has seemingly overtaken most of the American media. The articles were written to convey the news in a more clear and clean-cut way than I think I have read in a while. I had a bit of trouble with ordering coffee. I asked for coffee with cream and sugar and the lady just looked at me as if there was supposed to me more. Finally she asked ‘what kind of coffee’. I was somewhat caught off guard and just said ‘regular’. She then asked me if I wanted black or white coffee. I still haven’t figured out what white coffee is… Anyhow, I ended up with black coffee and a side cup of milk – apparently the sugar thing didn’t come through and I didn’t feel like asking. I was actually surprised by how good the coffee was without sugar. It was far less bitter than the coffees that I have been accustomed to in the past. So, needless to say, that was a pleasant surprise. I ordered a spinach, mushroom, and cheese omelet with toast and it was very good, though I think the meal was a little more expensive than I would prefer to pay for breakfast. I’ll have to find other places to get breakfast between now and the 18th when the Graduate House starts serving the breakfast that is included with the room and board fees that are being paid by the joint funding between the University of Melbourne, CSIRO, and the University of Texas. Following breakfast, I walked around the city blocks surrounding the Graduate House a bit more and came across several cafes and other interesting looking shops and stores. There will certainly be no shortage of pubs, cafes, and restaurants to try while I am here. Many of them offer outdoor seating right on the sidewalk and it seems as though the atmosphere is very relaxed and comfortable.

I also learned this morning that having wine with breakfast is socially acceptable here (if not perhaps customary) as I passed a group of cyclists who were having breakfast (presumably after their morning ride) at a café. Each had a bottle of wine in addition to their food (this was at about 10:30am or so).

Next, I went out exploring on foot. The first ‘stop’ along my trip was the Carlton Gardens, a park located about 5 minutes east of the Graduate House. I was somewhat surprised by how big the park was. There were several people out walking around and having picnic lunches under trees. I also noticed that there were a lot of kids riding around on skateboards and, in fact, they had several rails and other stunt park gear installed for use by skateboarders. I walked past the Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building. The architectures of both could not have been more opposite. The Melbourne Museum features very new age and artistic architecture while the exhibition building was built to reflect more traditional Roman architecture (rotunda and all). I strolled leisurely through the park taking a few pictures as I went along and soon enough I was back onto the streets of Melbourne. A few blocks from the park, I came across St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was clear from the street that a wedding was just finishing up as the bride and groom were making their way to their car to the cheers of their friends and family.

A few blocks south of the cathedral, I passed through the Treasury Gardens, a much smaller park, and approached the Yarra River. By following ‘Batman Ave’, I made my way over to the location where the Australian Open will be held. From a raised pedestrian bridge, I was able to look down onto the smaller courts and see a few players practicing. I then made my way back to the banks of the river and walked west toward the center of the city. The riverbanks have been very nicely landscaped and I found several cafes and restaurants surrounding the area as I approached the center of the city. After taking in the calm riverbankmbed back up to street level and threw myself right back into the energetic hustle and bustle that was this particular Saturday afternoon in Melbourne. I walked past the central train station. On Monday, I will catch a train here and travel east to Hawthorne in order to meet up with Anita to go to CSIRO.

I walked around the center-city area exploring the shops and restaurants for a while longer. By this time, I was rather hungry for lunch, so I started looking for a suitable place to eat. I still wanted to shy away from anything that appeared to be remotely American. Eventually I came across a small bakery that also served sandwiches. I ordered a sandwich, only to find out that they only accepted credit cards on bills of $30 or more. Luckily, I still had the $20 from the previous day, so I was okay. As part of my change, I received two $2 coins. This has been my first real experience with coins that are worth more than a dollar. It is interesting to see that Queen Elizabeth II is featured on the front of the coin (clearly pointing to Australia’s history with the UK). I wonder if they will change this when she dies. Anyhow, I am going to need to figure out a way to deal with these coins. I don’t have a wallet that is suitable for carrying them, and I really don’t want to have a whole bunch of coins in my pocket all the time. So, I guess I’ll just have to see what happens along the way. I don’t intend to carry much cash or coin on me for most of the trip, but we’ll see. Setting this digression aside, my chicken avocado spinach zucchini tomato and swiss sandwich was very good and I enjoyed eating it while looking at all of the amazing cakes that were for sale in the bakery. It was really quite impressive.

After that, I made my way back to the Graduate House. My feet were hurting quite a bit from walking around in sandals all day and I was tired anyhow. I came back to my room and worked a bit on planning my trip to New Zealand (coming up in less than a month now). I made some progress in identifying places I would like to go. Now, I just need to plan out the logistics and start making arrangements for the trip!

By the evening, the temperature had cooled down a bit from the afternoon high of around 100. Even with the high daytime temperature, a constant wind and low humidity kept things very comfortable and I didn’t find the heat to be a problem at all (though I did get slightly sunburned). By the time I was ready to go out for dinner, the temperature was around 25 deg C (mid 70s). The sky was clear and blue all day long – great weather for exploring!

I found dinner to be a frustrating experience. I tried to go to a pub that had been recommended, but it appears as though it has been shut down for some time now. I then proceeded to a street that has a lot of cafes and restaurants. Sure enough, there were plenty of people there doing the same thing. I found it difficult to find a place to eat because so many places were so busy. I eventually came across a sandwich shop (Grill’d) that advertised their sandwiches as being “made with love…luckily not the kind your parents make”. With that, I literally laughed out loud and knew that I had to eat dinner there. I had a sandwich and a beer and then made my way back to the Graduate House to turn in for the evening.