We Go to a Land Down Under - II

Doing the block

Monday, Oct. 3

We are up entirely too early. First, because we're on vacation, and second because you don't sleep that well, even though you're tired out of your mind when you retired, when your internal clock is 16 hours off.

Flinders Street Station with the Eureka Tower
in the background. The tower's exterior design
commemorates the rebellion of 1854 

Today we'll take a tour of the city. We begin down at the railway station, whose clock tower is our touchstone, Tony tells us. Find that, he says, and you can figure out how to get back to wherever you need to be. For the area we'll spend most of our time in, that's absolutely correct.

Catercorner from the train station lies St. Paul’s Cathedral (Anglican). The main part of the church was completed in the 1890s, but the spires weren't added until thee decades later, and are constructed from a different colored stone. After the completion of the spires, the cathedral was the tallest building in town, and though it no longer holds that title, it is still the tallest church in Australia.

Federation Square

Across the street and a bit down from the cathedral is Federation Square, a mixed-used development at the edge of the business district with a distinct style of architecture that doesn't fit with anything surrounding it or even with the ultramodern highrises that dominate the central business district. As we walked by later in the day, we noticed a giant sculpture of a baby hanging upside down in one of the open spaces in the square. It was designed by an Australian artist, I learned later.

Baby sculpture at Federation Square

Although the town dates back to the end of the 18th century, Melbourne as a city really took off during Australia’s gold rush in the 1800s, becoming the economic hub of Australia and the capital of the then province of Victoria. The city was flooded with immigrants from around the globe, and coupled with the flood of immigrants after World War II, the city remains a diverse collection of ethnicities.

One of the modern highrises downtown pays tribute to one of the key events in Australian history. As you can imagine, the British government was thrilled with gold find and the opportunity it provided to profit both directly through the gold and through the typical bureaucratic process of charging fees for just about anything someone might want to do in connection with mining the gold.

In 1854, miners in Ballerat, Victoria, staged a short-lived and ultimately disastrous rebellion, known as the Eureka Rebellion. Among their issues was that they were being taxed without representation through the imposition of fees to obtain a license to conduct mining. Despite their loss, a system for popular voting in parliamentary elections was instituted. The highrise reflects the colors of the rebel flag, blue and gold, and features a long, red stripe that signifies the blood shed during the failed revolt.

From St. Paul's we'll take a short walk to a unique feature of Melbourne's CBD -- laneways, what we would call alleys. Originally pathways used by workers and servants to reach their places of employment and places where the trash was taken into commercial areas, the laneways evolved, mostly after World War II, into districts with their own individual personalities.

Graffiti in Centre Place

One section, called Centre Place, is devoted to cafes and coffee shops -- and Melbourne is very proud of its coffee culture, Tony tells us. Starbucks tried to make an inroad but was only able to open about a quarter of the stores they planned to. Graffiti artists are allowed to operate by license in this and at least one other laneway, which draws locals and famous graffiti artists such as Banksy. Works will last a few weeks and then be covered over by other artists.

Ceiling in The Block

A pair sections we visited – The Block and the Royal Arcade – are devoted to upscale shops – high fashion, posh chocolatiers, very nice restaurants, that sort of thing. Moving from Centre Place to these areas is like walking from one planet into another. Stained glass archways, mosaic tile floors, statues that have been replicated from famous works in England. The Block and the Royal Arcade have long standing as part of the fashion shopping mecca of the city, and Tony tells us that it used to be quite the thing for the more well-to-do denizens of Melbourne to take a stroll in the area to see and be seen, an activity that came to be known as “doing the block.”

The Cook House

After our tour of the laneways, we hop on a bus to visit other areas of the city. Lots of gardens lie in various sections of town, and we stop of at one, Fitzroy Gardens, that contains a statue of Captain Cook next to his parent's house – there is apparently some debate over whether Cook actually lived there, and if so, how long – which was dismantled at its site in England and shipped to Australia to be reassembled in honor of the state of Victoria's centenary.

On, then, to the city’s war memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance, a large building across from the botanic gardens. Built to resemble the Greek shrines, its design allows for a unique light trick. An opening in the ceiling allows a ray of light to fall on what's call the Stone of Remembrance, at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 each year, in commemoration of the signing of the armistice in 1918. The stone carries the words, “Greater Love Hath No Man,” etched in four lines. The ray highlights the word “Love” on the stone.

Also, from the top of the steps that face the CBD, you can see a building downtown whose external design features the face of King Billy, a famous Tasmanian Aboriginal leader.

We skip exploring the memorial in favor of walking around the botanical gardens next door. They are enormous. Pathways branch off every few yards, and you could spend the entire day there without seeing the entire place.

We have the option of going back to the hotel at the end of the tour or hopping off at Federation Square and walking back, which we do. The bus driver recommends a walk along the river, which we’ll do after a bit of shopping and some lunch.

We eat at a local pizza place -- pizza may well be more popular here than at home -- but had we yearned for the taste of home, we could have eaten at McDonalds’s, which the Aussies call Macca’s; or Hungry Jacks, the logo and menu being the same as Burger King; or Subway’s. Lots of American brands here.

The Travelers

After eating and shopping, we make our way to the river area, which will take us back to the hotel. The riverwalk is quite charming, but I can’t say the same for the river, the Yarra. Tony told us that the area the rivers originates from leeches mud into the water, especially after heavy rains such as they’ve had recently. So, the river's brown. And a bit trashy in spots where the trash can collect. At one spot a large amount of trash is corralled alongside the walk. An accompanying sign urges people to keep their trash out of the river. I’d say the campaign's not working.

Some art installations dot the way, including one that’s basically a protest piece. The one I like best is a bunch of metal sculptures that line an old bridge. I look it up after we return home and find that the bridge was part of the route immigrants would take from the harbor at Port Phillip to the Flinders Street Train station. The bridge was later abandoned and fell into disuse until it was repurposed as a pedestrian walkway. The statues were commissioned to line the bridge and the collection is called “Travelers” in honor of all the immigrants who crossed the bridge. We snap the appropriate pictures along the way and eventually return to the hotel.

Later we’ll walk back toward the train station to find a place that’s well rated for its burgers and call it a night.

Foodie Break: A note about burgers in Australia: As you would expect, the country puts its own spin on a food familiar to us. We ate burgers a few times and occasionally were able to order a variation somewhat similar to the standard American burger, bun with meat and veggie combination of lettuce, pickles and tomatoes. The chain places served the American version but had Aussie variations, though we never ate at one of them.

Mostly, the places we ate at made their own buns and offered a variety of ground meats such as beef, lamb, emu or kangaroo. Vegetarian patties were often on the menu. Cheese tended to be white cheddar. Bacon was often offered, along with a fried egg. Pineapple and beet root -- large slices of pickled beet -- were popular options. It seemed as though you were more likely to have beetroot on a burger than tomato. And it wasn’t bad, added a bit of tang to the taste.