When I wake up, I notice that there are two people sleeping in the bed opposite from me! Freaky, since I am the only other person in the room! Gross, stop it!
Today is arts and museum day. First I go to the Victoria National Gallery and see several exhibitions-- Indiginous art, clothing from Jane Austin's period, Chinese Imperial robes, chairs from the 1960s, and a bunch of Rembrandts. I also see a lot of school groups and their INCREDIBLE UNIFORMS. Teenagers are wearing matching skirts, shirts, ties, sweaters, tights, shoes. Many of the school groups have girls wearing ties. Most also have all students wearing suit jackets. Like, EVERYTHING they wear is uniform. Without exception, every girl has unkempt hair.
At the Ian Potter Center, I see more indiginous art and more hippie chairs and some Australian painting which I think is incredibly uninteresting.
I take a walk through Melbourne's botanical gardens, which are a little like Sydney's in that they are arranged in a sprawling park, but there are no signs whatsoever, and it is chilly and overcast and I'm not feeling it. I stop in at the ANZAC memorial and learn FINALLY that ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. So ANZAC day is their remembrance day. An old lady gives a boring tour of the building, and I'm not terribly impressed, maybe I would have been at the beginning of my trip but I just can't be bothered to care that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the sun shines in a line EXACTLY at this spot and lights up the symbolic gravestone just so. The view from the top of the memorial is stunning, though. You can see the Yarra river and north suburbs from one side, and central Melbourne and the bay on the other. Here's where it starts drizzling.
What else do I do in Melbourne..... oh yeah, I go to church. The big cathedral near my hostel has an afternoon prayer service every weekday with a choir, and I can't resist a choir! Thankfully, the praying part is minimal, and the singing part takes up most of it, and it is just lovely, with all the young boys and their contra-alto voices (I think that's what it's called) and the echoing in the stone hall.
Back at the ranch, I had some veggie nugget from Lord of the Fries and watched The Notebook on the hostel telly. One point for me since this movie stars Rachel McAdams. God, I love this movie. It is a total chick cry-fest, but it's awesome. Then I hang out at McDonalds and do internet.
Australian thing of the day: Fake birkenstock sandals that I bought at Big W for $12.99. I have been looking for ones just like it at home to no avail. Yay Australia!
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