Striving for eccentric

Tuesday, Mar 7th - last night in Melbourne

I am enjoying this trip a lot but I am totally exhausted every night. We walk at least 4 - 5 miles every day. And the schedule is just packed ! I have been enjoying the 'expert talks' very much. I am learning so much.

Melbourne is a fantastic city and I am very glad we got to spend some time here. I feel pretty comfortable getting around here now and there is a lot to see and do. We have just scratched the surface, of course. But I feel like I could easily adapt to being here for a good long time if I ever needed to do that.

The people are very friendly and laid back. I love the ethnic diversity. Quite a mix of people. But you don't get the 'rush / rush / rush' coolness of NYC. The food has been excellent. The transportation is pretty easy ( so far ).

Today we started with an expert talking to us about Aboriginal Art. She walked us through a couple of paintings and told us some history. We will learn a lot more about this when we get to Alice Springs and Uluru, of course. We also went to the Australian National Art Museum which has a nice collection of Aboriginal Art.

Our hotel is quite close to the Melbourne Library so we got a very quick tour of that as well. Libraries are among my favorite places so that was a real treat. This one was modelled a little on the U.S. Library of Congress - which is one of my favorite places in the whole world. I got to spend some extra time there while Bill ran some errands so that made me very happy.

The Melbourne Library. The central reading room was very reminescent of the Library of Congress Reading Room. - which wasn't an accident.

This room was the original library. They are restoring the architectural features / the ceiling / the walls. It's gorgious. When it was founded, it was free to all. Forward thinking, those Australians !