Today we wanted to go to the trendy district of St. Kilda in Melbourne, which is easier said than done. So after the usual toast and eggs brekky, we walked to the train, got our tickets, and headed downtown. Then we wandered for awhile in search of a train or tram that would take us south into St. Kilda. We stopped and went inside the Melbourne Museum, which had a Titanic exhibition on display, but admission was ridiculous and there was admission for even the regular gallery so we continued on past the original federal parliament house, from when Melbourne was the capital of Australia. But you had to pay for and book tours to enter. Anything to make a buck over here. Onward we walked and along the way we came across the building we were at yesterday that houses the Aus. Centre for the Moving Image, but we came upon it from the side this time, where there is an entirely different museum called the National Gallery of Victoria. This one was free (imagine that, a free museum!) and we wandered through the three floors of galleries. An unfortunate consequence of most free museums is that they are boring a hell, and that was the case with the NGV. So we exited the building and went in search of a Krispy Kreme donut shop, which sounded delightful at the moment. After a lengthy fruitless search, we stopped in at the Melbourne Visitors Centre and looked at their information on the city for a bit. That got boring in a hurry so we said adios to that place and walked across the street to the enormous St. Paul's Cathedral. Went inside and marveled at the opulence of the marble and pipe organ and stained glass windows (and that churchy smell that is in every church I've ever been into) before returning to the street and locating a train into St. Kilda.
It turned out to not be overly far and once we got off it was only a couple of blocks to the ocean and beach. This area of St. Kilda feels like Venice Beach in California and also has Luna Park right near it. We had seen and taken photos at Luna Park in Sydney, and this one has the same idea, only the face on the outside of the gate is more demonic than the childish smile of the Sydney park. Snapped the necessary photos and walked the boardwalk at the beach end to end, then went out onto the pier where there are supposed to be mini penguins. About halfway out we were looking at the rocks to try and find penguins when a local engaged us in conversation. "Where are you guys from" etc. turned into over an hour of chit chat that was decently interesting but was one of those conversations you are continually trying to think of a way to excuse yourself from. After three mentions of needing to go for dinner, and over an hour of chat, we finally broke free of the man and walked back into the streets of St. Kilda (without seeing a single penguin).
We found a decently priced kabob place for supper then hopped on a random tram to hopefully get back to the city center. Out of sheer luck, the tram stopped right by the visitors centre we were at earlier in the day, so we got off and were walking to the train station when we saw a Krispy Kreme. Hallelujah! Three delicious donuts (that put Tim Horton's to shame, although the ones at the American Krispy Kreme were better) and a latte later, we went back into the central train station and took a train back to the hostel. Tomorrow is some sort of preliminary race for the Melbourne Cup....The Victoria Cup perhaps? It's supposed to have the best races of the week, so despite the heavy rain forecast, we'll probably check that out tomorrow.
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