Melbourne City Day

Melbourne

Big Tree in the Botanical Gardens

On Wednesday, Emily, Liz and I took the metro into the city. Josh couldn't come because he had to work. It is really weird that the school year in Australia starts in January/February. When we arrived in the city we walked around central Melbourne. In the middle of the city there is a square surrounded by restaurants that has a huge TV at one side of it. Emily said that the city plays big AFL, cricket, and other sports games on the TV and everyone comes out and hangs out to watch. It seemed like a really good idea.

Emily and Liz at Gardens

Josh's Organic Bakery "Loafer Bread"

We went to the Queen Victoria Botanical Gardens near the middle of the city. The gardens were beautiful, and the views of the city were awesome from the gardens. There were so many roses it reminded me of England. We got some great pics and then headed back to the city center to grab one of "Melbourne's Best Pizzas." After lunch we walked past the square where a guy was performing. He pretended to be Indian and made a bunch of crude jokes to on-lookers and passers-by. Finally he admitted he was an Aussie, took off his turban and juggled flaming torches while laying on a bed of nails ten feet in the air. It was a cool show and he had a pretty good crowd for it. Liz and Emily didn't care about watching him but I was too interested to leave.

Giant TV in Melbourne Square

After the show we headed on the free Melbourne-city tram. We planned to go around the entire city only to find the tram broke down about five minutes after we got on. We decided to walk to on the Melbourne pedestrian shopping street that happened to be right on the way to Josh's bakery. There was a beautiful little church on the way that I got a few photos of. Another hot water bottle later, we were outside of the Melbourne Parliament building. We took the tram from there to Loafer Bread Bakery where Josh works. We grabbed a delicious afternoon tea consisting of lattes, hot chocolate, danishes and cookies, until Josh got off work. We took the metro back to Josh's and then Emily and Josh took us out to their favorite Portuguese chain restaurant Nandos. It was really delicious and then we headed home to watch some more Underbelly. I was seriously getting hooked on the show.

Liz and Emily at the Gardens Entrance

The next morning we spent playing with the kids and relaxing until Emily and Josh picked us up and we went grocery shopping for our big Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Then we went to see the Premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Liz and I were so stoked about it all day! We went with some of Emily's friends and Tara to grab some burgers before the show, and then grabbed some goodies once we got to the theater. The movie was amazing (as was expected)! We were also thrilled because we were 16 hours ahead of the U.S. in Australia so we were seeing it before it was even being released in the U.S. We all left the theater really wishing we didn't have to wait to see Part II.