but i'm so tired jon... okay, okay, here i go!!! :)
I WENT TO MELBOURNE!!
Melbourne is amazing and incredibly different from Sydney. I spent 4 days and nights in that wonderfully hospitable, exciting, very U.S.-like city with my wonderful cousin who was totally JJ (jealous) over all the things that Syd lacked compared to Mel. (Mel and Syd have a long time rivalry ya know). Anyway, he loved it and therefore was jj.
It's really quite easy to get lost every 3.4 seconds while driving in sydney while melbourne, a planned city, is pretty much like houston (uh, without the loops) with barely any oneway streets. The people are incredibly friendly and courteous whereas sydney siders don't have time for their own mother! now i understand why all the other owls studied abroad at a melbourne uni instead of here in sydney (not to say that this place isn't super awesome as well- i mean, who else has our harbour and cocklebay wharf and all the sights in circular quay and the city?)
I learned an interesting fact that i remember only because of my cousin: although many would think that major corporations would have their headquarters in sydney, the majority are in melbourne, cuz it's like 30% cheaper (smart). i mention this because the mercedes building is ingrained in my visual of melbourne CBD since we passed it every time we went to the Crown Casino Complex, or really, anywhere else for that matter :)
ON TO THE 'FUN' PART:
Wednesday night:
Went to Laigon Street (little italy) for dinner at 11:30pm and were back at hotel by 1ish because poor vipra was starting to feel even more sick than before. The street was so alive on a wed night that it put most of the restaurants of sydney to shame for closing their kitchens at 9:30pm!! Cafe Notturno was the place to go and i kept getting distracted watching the guy making a million different milkshakes and serving so many different types of gelati!
Thursday morning/afternoon:
Woke up by 11am instead of the intended 7am since I was unwell and needed rest. Then we went to puffing billy about an hour away which is Melbourne's steam train. It was about 1.5-2 hours roundtrip ride and i loved it. We were able to see the world's largest model train collection... and the owner was so nice- we only had a ten and a hundred and a credit card with us, so when we asked each other if we had dollar coinage, the guy just told us we could just give him the ten and not worry about the other couple of dollars.
This model was amazing... might post pics. It had running trains and tunnels and tiny people and firetrucks and ambulances and an amusement park with running ferris wheel and cable cars that people use way up high in the air, and trolley cars and an underground mine,too! Loved it so much that i think we were in there for at least half an hour cuz we barely caught the puffing billy back!!
By the time we headed back to the city, it was getting pretty late for lunch and too early for dinner so we just grabbed some subway and decided we'd have a great dinner :)
Thursday evening:
We took the city in as much as possible... we explored Federation Square, the Yarra River, grabbed a smoothie (much needed in the blistering heat of the day), went back to the hotel for a (nap for the cous and gym for me), freshened up and headed back to the city after a quick shower to eat dinner at Bok Choy Tang, a really yummy chinese restaurant in Federation Square! The service was great, the food was delicious, and the water glasses were never empty :) To me, having a full glass of water really means that the wait staff is paying attention to its customers needs and they were paying so much attention that it is definitely worth a mention!
After dinner we headed over to Crown Complex via the Yarra and the Arts Center (both gorgeous and lively on a thursday!). The Crown Complex was buzzing as well even though it was cold that night. We checked out almost everything they had to offer... the restaurants, gaming, casino, fountains, and of course the young fools running through the fountains guaranteeing that they'd freeze their ass off!
To be continued...
Still to come: yarra walk jazz music, phillip island penguins, Great Ocean Drive, 12 apostles, Thai jasmine, Cafe Trevi, and more...
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