Melbourne

One big purpose of this trip was for my friend to return to Melbourne, where she studied abroad in college. She was dying to get back and share her favorite city in the world. We arrived late after the long drive, which meant no sight seeing until morning.

Up and out early, the clouds were just giving way to sun. We walked straight from our hotel in Chinatown to Federation Square, a huge modern architecture wonder on the Yara River. On the way we saw Hosier Ln full of sanctioned graffiti. It was a pop of outlandish color in a dark alley.  After a cup of coffee and breakfast in the atrium, we walked down to the river bank, admiring statues like the Red Center and more. We crossed to see the Eureka Building and then wandered back via the footbridge. From the train station we caught the circle city trolley to the docklands.

My friend's favorite statue was cow in a tree, so we had to find that. The public art in Melbourne is incredible, especially the creative sculptures. After posing with the cow in the tree, we rode the trolley back downtown to Melbourne Central for lunch. It's a big mall built around an old shot factory. 

After lunch we relived college at Melbourne university, exploring my friend's old haunts. We waited out a rainstorm in the union, then walked over to Lygon St for gelato. Mmmmmm, gelato.  Since it was getting cold, we started back towards the river for dinner at Flora, an Indian restaurant with great butter chicken.  Our night finished with an Australian classic- Tim Tam Slams in the hotel room.