Driving into Melbourne, at night due to our 5 hour delay...
Along the freeway there are many different colored panels and lights
People!
Our plane, delayed and waiting for a replacement crew member, a crew member that flew from Melbourne to Hobart to return on our Hobart to Melbourne flight.Zok and I went to Melbourne-which is for us; 'going into the city', even though the city is about an hour away by plane. There are cities in this world that I love; Stockholm, Paris, Chester, and Seattle are among them. There are cities that I love conditionally, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Barcelona. Some cities though I can't get past my ambivelance, and Melbourne is high on that list. On the one side there is shopping, museums, night life and lots of places to eat, on the other hand there is the traffic, the noise, the long distances that emcompass the sprawl of the greater city area. All routes seem to be the same, so that we are often driving along the same route in some nightmarish, endless, loop. I truly believe that Australian radio exists for Australians to hear themselves talk, there is at least thirty minutes of talking for every two songs. There is no pattern to the programming either, the same station that plays a T.Rex song will follow T.Rex with a song by Midnight Oil or Icehouse.
Also and more importantly, Melbourne is often the city of missed opportunities, the place we want to eat at will be closed, the shop we liked will be gone, the event we want to attend will be over the day we arrive, or starting the day we leave. I take a cities tone and ease very personally, and I don't think that Melbourne really wants me to stay any longer than I need too.
Then there are the people, people in an amount to which I find shocking when I come from Tasmania. People out, at all hours, at all volumes, crushing and pushing. If I ever had the city edge, to block out the ugliness, and to navigate a crowd, I have basically lost that ability.
There are a lot of public art works along the freeways, the over passes, bridges and tunnels are all done artistically which is a good example of my torn feelings, as one part of me thinks 'Wow, what a great thing to do.' while another part thinks 'Wow, there is so much traffic and so much time spent on the freeways the state actually paid to have art places along the busy stretches.'.
Zok and I drove about 355 km during our three days there, and since we rented a Prius, the cost for gas (petrol) was only $16 AU at $1.22 AU a litre, (or about $4.88 a gallon). The Prius is also quiet and comes with a built in feeling of smug to help one along. Zok and I did get to have a nice dinner with his friends Michelle and Trevor, who are a class example of city dwellers, they vacation, have a low maintenance condo. in the city, rarely drive, and live to dine out. They love their city and it seems their city loves them back. They took us to a lovely French restaurant called 'Bistro Vue', I can attest that the ambiance was delightful and the wine lovely, for information on the apparently very tasty dead beasts, one would have to ask the carnivores of the table, (Zok is behind me saying words like 'clean cut of meat', and 'tender, very tender'). We also visited all the family that we were able too, and somehow came home with two full check in bags of food, and household items.
I learned a new Macedonian word 'Kalinka' which means Pomegranate, and which I have spelled phonetically for you here. Melbourne has enough of a Macedonian population that there is a 24 hr television station that is available, broadcasted from Macedonia. This is what is on in Zok's mothers home, (unless 'deal or no deal' is on). Zok did take me to see a Roller Derby bout and I finally made it to the Heide Modern Museum located outside the city in Bulleen. One thing I truly appreciate about a trip to Melbourne, is that I am always insanely grateful to return home. There is much dancing about, exclamations of, and touching to reaffirm that everything is real.
Also and more importantly, Melbourne is often the city of missed opportunities, the place we want to eat at will be closed, the shop we liked will be gone, the event we want to attend will be over the day we arrive, or starting the day we leave. I take a cities tone and ease very personally, and I don't think that Melbourne really wants me to stay any longer than I need too.
Then there are the people, people in an amount to which I find shocking when I come from Tasmania. People out, at all hours, at all volumes, crushing and pushing. If I ever had the city edge, to block out the ugliness, and to navigate a crowd, I have basically lost that ability.
There are a lot of public art works along the freeways, the over passes, bridges and tunnels are all done artistically which is a good example of my torn feelings, as one part of me thinks 'Wow, what a great thing to do.' while another part thinks 'Wow, there is so much traffic and so much time spent on the freeways the state actually paid to have art places along the busy stretches.'.
Zok and I drove about 355 km during our three days there, and since we rented a Prius, the cost for gas (petrol) was only $16 AU at $1.22 AU a litre, (or about $4.88 a gallon). The Prius is also quiet and comes with a built in feeling of smug to help one along. Zok and I did get to have a nice dinner with his friends Michelle and Trevor, who are a class example of city dwellers, they vacation, have a low maintenance condo. in the city, rarely drive, and live to dine out. They love their city and it seems their city loves them back. They took us to a lovely French restaurant called 'Bistro Vue', I can attest that the ambiance was delightful and the wine lovely, for information on the apparently very tasty dead beasts, one would have to ask the carnivores of the table, (Zok is behind me saying words like 'clean cut of meat', and 'tender, very tender'). We also visited all the family that we were able too, and somehow came home with two full check in bags of food, and household items.
I learned a new Macedonian word 'Kalinka' which means Pomegranate, and which I have spelled phonetically for you here. Melbourne has enough of a Macedonian population that there is a 24 hr television station that is available, broadcasted from Macedonia. This is what is on in Zok's mothers home, (unless 'deal or no deal' is on). Zok did take me to see a Roller Derby bout and I finally made it to the Heide Modern Museum located outside the city in Bulleen. One thing I truly appreciate about a trip to Melbourne, is that I am always insanely grateful to return home. There is much dancing about, exclamations of, and touching to reaffirm that everything is real.
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