A Day in Melbourne

We landed in Melbourne in the morning. Since we were docked far from town, we decided to do a city tour. My sister was here in the 60s and didn’t recognize it. She remembers the city as being “very British.”

Downtown Melbourne is filled with skyscrapers and there is a lot of building going on. Streets were clogged and lanes were changed, much to the chagrin of Stewart, our coach driver. Our guide told us that seven years in a row, the city had won the world- wide title of “ most livable city, but lost its title this year to Vienna, Austria.

• 

• 

• 

We spent lots of time driving around town and I was impressed by the creative variety of the buildings as well as the city’s commitment to the arts. The center photo above is just a tiny part of an arts center. The opera house here gets more international bookings than the one in Sydney, because the Sydney Opera House is an intimate venue and doesn’t hold as many people. The Australian ballet building has a huge tower of a thin figure wearing a tutu.

We were told that people in Melbourne are “mad about sport” and we were driven by the Rod Laver tennis complex.

I took the picture of the ballet building from the 88th floor of the Eureka building – the Skydeck – which gives a panoramic tour of the city, a bit like the views seen at the Seattle space needle.

Since we were taking the tour on November 11, we were able to stop at the Shrine of Remembrance after the 11:00 AM ceremony. It is a huge park honoring those who served in all the battlegrounds, from Gallipoli to Afghanistan. There were individual memorials for each conflict, with an eternal flame to commemorate those lost in World War II. This is the entrance, with poppies. Many people were also wearing poppies on their shirts, as a symbol to remind us of the horrors of war, “ lest we forget.”

I was surprised that November 11 wasn’t a national holiday, as Veterans’ Day is at home, but was told that ANZAC Day is much more important, as it commemorates those from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) . The date, April 25, was the date of the first wartime engagement, in Gallipoli, in World War I. Anzac Day honors all those who “served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. “

Many school children were at the park with their teachers and we were told that all children wore uniforms, whether they be in public or private schools. Hats are also compulsory, as Australia has a large hole in the ozone layer.

We returned to the ship and rested, then prepared ourselves for evening entertainment. We’re enjoying the classical music of the Lincoln Center stage with four young and talented musicians and the dueling pianos who play Billboard hits. We play trivia. We go to the shows in the main showroom which have been excellent so far. We enjoy our balcony. Of course there’s the food as well. We went to the gala evening dinner in the main dining room and also drop by the Lido deck for breakfast. We indulged in room service breakfast the day we had a morning tour.

Today our tour to the wildlife refuges isn’t until the afternoon so we can take our time to wander into town.