Melbourne in a Day

Sunday, November 13

Doug wanted to sleep in a little, so we planned an afternoon of touring around Melbourne. I got up around 9 and (gasp!) went to the hotel gym for a granny jog. Once we were both up and around, we headed into center city to find brunch.

Café Segovia is a cute little place on Block Place. We had a big meal and decided to loosely follow another walking tour from one of the guidebooks. Since it’s Sunday, the center city area was a little quiet, but we walked past the major sites. We popped into a little shop that had irreverent t-shirts (my favorite kind). The sales girl was one of those fantastic-looking young rebels with bleached out hair, raccoon eyes, and facial piercings. As soon as we walked in, she started chatting with us and soon she was drawing us a map and giving us the rundown on everything we need to see while we’re in Melbourne. She directed us to Chapel Street, Brunswick (or Bruni, as she called it), and St. Kilda. A few of these had been on our list, but it was nice to have a recommendation from a local. I was thinking that I couldn’t imagine the same scenario happening in New York. I mean, could two tourists walk into a place in the east village, or most other neighborhoods for that matter, and leave with an unsolicited itinerary of the must-see sites of Manhattan. Call me crazy.

After touring downtown we dropped our stuff at the hotel, changed out clothes and headed back out. First stop was Chapel Street, a mid-market shopping district (less 5th Avenue, more Soho). This neighborhood was much more active and we spent a few hours weaving in and out of the little shops. At one place, Kit, we ran into another uber-friendly sales girl who offered more recommendations on what to cram into our remaining hours in Melbourne. The people here are just so friendly. More than that, I think they are really proud of their cities and of Australia in general, and I think they just love to chat.

We left Chapel Street and took the Tram to St. Kilda, a bayside town with a few cafes and bars. We got a seaside table, ordered some good food and drink, and watched the sunset over the bay.

Hours later, we poured ourselves into a cab and had an interesting conversation with the cab driver, a North Indian man who is getting his Masters degree in Melbourne. He had a lot of cynical, but completely believable things to say about Australia. But, the interesting thing is that he’s applying for permanent residency. I asked him why, I wanted to know why it was worth it to live in a city where he felt discriminated against. And, of course, the answer was: “Because it’s better than where I come from.” It’s a crazy world.