Friday I ventured off by myself into the city because Matt and Lydia had work. I went to the nearby tram station and spent probably 15 minutes staring at the map trying to figure out which tram to take. A tram for those of you don't know is like an electric train that rides down the middle of the road. It seems to work very well as a means of transportation all around the city. And because these trams run down the middle of road, cars have to take curved right turns. Meaning that they have to line up on the left side of the intersection and cut straight across the tracks. So I got off a random stop and walked aimlessly around either looking completely lost or like a full on tourist. But I was enjoying it. Melbourne is a beautiful city with amazing architecture and culture.
After seeing all the art sculptures, theatres, and cathedrals I headed towards the yarra river which winds through Melbourne and connects to the harbour. After crossing the bridge the botanical gardens and the stadiums caught more of my attention than the city. So whilst strolling through the park I stumbled upon a bike fair. There were a ton of tents and all kinds of people dressed up in their spandex petting their bikes like it was their most precious thing in the world. I did find a cool stand where some company was selling gatorade-like drinks. They had free samples which made it all the better. Not bad, it was a lot less sweeter than gatorade and they said they use magnesium or something instead so it's supposed to be better for you. I didn't really care, I obviously went for the free samples like everyone else. I then went on to see the stadiums whihc were all conveniently located in the same place. I visited the one for the AFL team, Collingwood Magpies. They are the yankees of AFL. After the stadium I walked to the botanical gardens and shrine of rememberance. The shrine of rememberance was a cool temple dedicated to the people who fought in WWI. In the middle of the crypt was a tombstone and on 11/11 at 11am the sunlight passes over the tombstone. Pretty cool eh?
The rest of the day I spend my time in the botanical gardens. It was huge, quiet, and beautiful; therefore, I had to just lay down for a long time. They had all kinds of trees and plants and they labeled each species which kept my attention for a long time. There was even some cute black swans with long necks; who also had little baby chicks.
At night Matt and Lydia took me out to dinner and out to some bars. We first went to a 'mad scientist' bar. It was in china town in some random alley, the alley had very artistic murals and graffiti. We were expecting a bar that was supposed to be all white and creepy but it turned out to be dim with some lab equipment decoration and syringes for shots. That was he extent of 'mad scientist'. So after that we went to the German bar down the road which was holding an Oktoberfest celebration. Stines were too much. Lastly we ended up at a bar called Sector 9, which was a bar also in an alley that was made up entirely of shipping crates. It was a cool environment and a good use of old material.
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