Melbourne Day 2
The four days in Melbourne sort of all get mixed-up. That's how it can be with Anil, my friend, who was able to take me with him to his dream of seeing the Australian Open Tennis competition. He wakes up early and is go, go, go from the moemnt his eyes open. I am not a morning person so I take a bit of time to acclimate myself to being up!
On one of the afternoons, we visited the world famous Melbourne Cricket Club (the MCC). Anil is about as fanatical about cricket as he is about tennis! (Or as I am about Star Wars!) We were given a three hour tour of the stadium that included the grounds themselves (1-3), where we were able to actually stand on the field. We were also able to see the team locker rooms and the place where they soak in ice after a game. We were taken to the exclusive member's only section that had the bats of different legends. We also could sit in the place where the elites get to watch the game and where the press call the plays. At the end was a small museum fllled with photos and cricket memorabilia. Anil was in heaven. I was mildly entertained, simply by watching Anil delight in the experience!
Coming home we crossed upon a bridge that had Olympic Rings. (Mebourne hosted the Summer Olympics in 1956; it was the first time the Olympics were held in the Southern Hemisphere!) We also spotted another stadium, the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, commercially known as the AAMI Park, that is used for national rugby league. I enjoyed the weird geometry and wonder what the field looks like on the inside!
We did a lot of walking during our days in Melbourne. Here are some pictures of bridges and buildings that caught my eye. The tall spire (1) sits atop a performing arts theatre and became our north star as it sits a couple of blocks from our Holiday Inn. There were lots of sculptures around the city like these (3-4). Many of the bridges were sculptural too (5-6). Melbourne has a lovely mix of new and old, like this building (10-11).
Though Anil s a devout atheist, he does appreciate ecclesial architecture and beauty. We entered the Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul that sits opposite the major train station at Flinder Street Train Station. Very Pretty!
These are some shots of Queen Victoria Gardens, a little park near the hotel. The Queen's statue (6) sits atop the hill where the small park rests. As you can see the flowers are in full bloom, being summer down here.
One day was a cloudy wet one. Really we could not complain with all the fires and drought that the whole of Australia had been experiencing. So we entered the National Gallery of Victoria (Victoria is the state of the city of Melbourne. Sydney's is New South Wales or NSW). I enjoyed the art very much. There's a Keith Haring mural at the entrance with water pouring down the glass that I liked a lot (3), though I was not impressed by the huge muppet statue by an artist named "Kaws" (4). I've included some of the art that moved me, though I forgot to take photos of the titles. Check out the poor ewe morning the death of her little lamb (11)…doesn't it make you want to convert to be a vegetarian? What really impressed me is that most of these artists are unknown. Clearly they are great talents yet we have so many artist that these stand in the shadows of even greater ones! Okay, enough deep thoughts…
Up near the Australian Open grounds they had a small little area for kids. And I could see this huge TIE Fighter from Star Wars from the main path. Naturally I was drawn to the exhibit. It was a big advertisement for "Disney+" the new streaming app. They have the rights to Marvel and Star Wars and of course Disney (which includes Pixar).
Last are these shots from the famous "Rod Laver Arena" (1-2) of the Australian Open (AO) 2020. We saw two matches on the first night: Ashleigh Barty (3) vs. Lesia Tsurenko (Ashleigh won). Ashleigh is Aboriginal Aussie and was hoping to win the AO Women's Single Title (I believe she had never won the AO). Sadly she lost in a lter round.
We also saw the more famous Novak Djokovic (4) vs. Jan-Leonard Struff (5). (The German Struff must eat his Wheaties as he stands at 6 foot 7 inches tall!) However, Djokovic won that one and is in the finals tonight against newbie Dominic Thiem. By the time you read this, one of them will have one the Men's Singles Title of the Australian Open!