October showers...

Spring is definitely in full swing down here...

You know how people always say that they live in a place where you can never tell what the weather is going to be, and that it changes from minute to minute?  Melbourne trumps all of those places, at least in the past few days that I've seen.  It is a nice temperature in the morning, calm with clear skies, and then all of a sudden it's really windy. And then it clears up and gets hot. And then clouds appear out of nowhere and create a downpour.  Maybe we should give up on the prediction of the weather, because it seems to be a fruitless endeavor.

Anyways, I'm definitely getting settled into Melbourne life, and the time zone.  I went to an engagement party with Megan on the day I got in, after taking a quick nap for a few hours, and was immediately assaulted by English spoken as a foreign language.  You can kind of tune out foreign language, especially if it is one that you don't understand at all.  With Australia, everyone speaks English, so you're constantly listening, but not totally hearing everything that is said.  This problem is compounded at a party, with loud music, and lots of people.  Thankfully, everyone I met was very gracious with this, and one of Megan's friends even tried to help me translate, since just getting back from America herself, she was "fluent in Australian and American." 

On Sunday, I went on a walk around the Yarra River (which runs right by the house), seeing the "falls" (glorified dam, not very big, but enough to create rapids which kids were kayaking down), and a converted convent which housed a bakery and a rotating modern art exhibit.  It was a gorgeous day for a stroll (well, the morning, at least), and framed by a river that might have the Potomac beat in amount of sediment (Yarra is apparently an indigenous word which means upside-down, thus: the upside-down river), it was a nice way to stretch my legs after sitting in a flying tin can for 2 days.

We then joined Megan's sister and her sister-in-law for a jaunt into the city, to a craft show that was going on at the Royal Exhibition Center.  The show was typical, and had some really nice quilts/crafts/artsy stuff, the building it was in is absolutely stunning.  It's a UNESCO Heritage Site, built in the early 1900s, and it's Victorian to the hilt.  Intricate painted walls/ceilings, huge arched headspaces.... Just an amazing building, and kept in amazing condition (I'm sure it has been retouched, but still...).

A chill evening followed, pastries at an Italian bistro, I made dinner for the family, and some relaxing to try and evade the jet lag.

Monday was a wandering day, where we took the tram into the city and meandered around Melbourne for a while.  Melbourne is a great city, in layout and in feel.  The Central Business District (CBD) is a grid, where there aren't many skyscrapers, so it has a very personal feel to it.  Around the outskirts, there are tons of parks, art galleries, gardens, and other sights which create a constant vibrancy in the city's momentum.  The architecture is a combination of old school Victorian and very modern creations, creating a really sleek but accessible feel throughout the city.  For example, Federation Square is right to the South of the CBD, where the Melbourne Visitor Center is (Hardcore tourist center), and the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI - Film museum), among other things. But the buildings are so modern (think NYC Apple store for the tourist center, and modern patchwork quilt for ACMI), and the open space in between so well planned out, it feels like a great place to sit and peoplewatch, which is exactly what goes on, it seems.  Megan says there is tons of stuff going on there in the summer, so I anticipate that being a place I go to a lot. 

ACMI was very cool, but the museum was too new, and things weren't exactly working 100%.  We went to the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), where a lame "scary get locked in a cell" tour led to a kinda creepy, but pretty middle-ages style Jail, where apparently you can have a wedding ceremony/reception (Megan went to a wedding there.. As long as the sweetheart table isn't under the gallows, I guess it's ok...).  We walked a lot through the alleys and arcades that go between the main streets, which struck me as really cool; the kind of place that you can get lost in and find all sorts of cool stuff off the beaten path.  After getting tons of reading material for things to do in and around Melbourne (3 months is seeming shorter and shorter...), we headed back to the house just as it started to pour, and relaxed a bit before going to Megan's basketball game, where I got to push the buttons to put score on the board! Yay!

And yes, today is my Birthday (in Australia, at least), but it's really cold and windy outside, and I have a party with 12 people at a Greek Restaurant (and wherever else you drink around here) tonight, so Megan is out renting a whole lot of iconic Aussie movies, and getting some sort of green tea milkshake which supposedly is amazing...  Also, I've learned from last time that you can't spend every day going balls to the wall, because you'll get worn out. 3 months is much longer than one month, and not enjoying the trip is terrible, even if it was jam-packed with things that have been seen/done...