And The Journey Continues

Second day in Australia has been great.  Yesterday, we sat in a huge cobblestone plaza along with a couple hundred Aussies and watched the hoopla of the Melbourne Cup.  It was really quite exciting to see how much these people get so pumped up for the horse race of the year. The whole town is still in a frenzy and more is on the way as Thursday is Oaks Day (also called Ladies Day) at the track.  The women will again get dressed up and sport another new hat.  The hats are quite impressive.

The architecture of the city is something everyone will need to see.  I took some photos from atop the Rialto Towers observation booth. It may be hard to see the city through the photos, so I will have show them to you when we return.  This city is so very vibrant.  The people stay in the inner city long after the work day to attend the sporting events, restaurants, pubs and any event that is going on.  They love their city and it really shows.  As an interesting side comment, we have yet to see any police presence in the city.  The people of Melbourne appear to not need the police to remain civil.  Trash on the street is almost non-existent. A trip to Australia must include a visit to Melbourne.  I would suggest at least a week in order to see all their is and to eat at the numerous restaurants on Lygon Street.

We went to the Melbourne Aquarium today as well as many other sites.  We just got back to the hotel to change into shorts and check on the election. It appears our horse won the race in the US.  We are now off to the train depot to catch a train that tours the inner city.  It has been fun and exciting in Melbourne.  We are off to the airport in the morning for our flight to Adelaide and then a quick flight to Kangaroo Island.