More exploring Melbourne, and it's a small world!

All - I apologize that these last posts are coming all bunched up st the end, but I had so little time to get them done over the weekend. So although I'll likely be back in the states before I post this, let me backtrack a bit.

Friday was a day to explore Melbourne - no more tennis tickets :( but that's OK - there is lots to see around here.

I headed back downtown for a stroll and lunch along Federation Wharf - which is an area down below the Princess Bridge. The path runs right along the Yarra River, which bisects the city, and features a number of cute little cafes.

After lunch I strolled through the Royal Botanic Gardens. I think I mentioned before that Melbourne has lots of parks and green spaces, but this one is surely the largest and most formal. It contains a wide variety of plants, flowers, trees and sculpture; and provides a lovely place to stretch your legs and enjoy cool, shaded paths for a break from the Melbourne summer heat. 

Royal Botanic Gardens

Shrine of Remembrance

Just north of the gardens, I visited the Shrine of Remembrance - a large "square dome" (see photo) built to commemorate WWI veterans. There are also monuments on the site to WWII and Vietnam veterans, but the main structure was built after the First World War and is somewhat more elaborate since many who served in that war were buried abroad. The monument was built to give those families a place of remembrance in lieu of a gravestone. Every year at 11am on November 11th, a ray of sunlight comes through the hole in the dome and moves across a stone in the floor that reads "Greater love hath no man." They simulate this with a brief moment of silence on the hour - a very moving tribute.

Next I made an all-to-brief visit to the National Gallery of Victoria. The building itself is quite striking, with a glass wall of water in the front and a ceiling of stained glass. It has a lovely collection of 17th and 18th century European paintings as well as some very interesting glassware, pottery and sculpture. I really needed more time to do it justice.

But I had to go...here is the "small world" part of the story. Turns out I have another friend in Melbourne. My friend Steve has been over here working off and on and it turns out he was in town toward the end of my visit. So I had to leave the gallery to go meet him and some friends for happy hour. I had a great time catching up with Steve but also met lots of other fun folks - hi to Katie and Ahab if you're reading this!

Being a tourist is fun, but it's great to go out with the locals. We started out at a favorite local spot near their office but migrated to a wonderful Japanese restaurant called Ginza Teppanyaki. At this point my new friend Katie told me that if I wasn't going to play tourist she would, so she took over my camera for the rest of the evening. See some fun shots of my friend Steve and cousin Sarah below, plus one of our chef preparing food at our table. Yummy food, great company - a fabulous evening!

Cousin Sarah and Friend Steve

Our Chef at Ginza Teppanyaki