We’ve spent the last two days exploring Melbourne, specifically the CBD (central business district, aka downtown). The first day was all about finding the best views and riding their trams around town. It’s a relatively new city (like American cities versus European) with a mix of beautiful Victorian architecture alongside ultra-modern skyscrapers. The second day we took a free walking tour and learned about Melbourne’s history and culture. They are very proud of this city being named by The Economist as “the most live-able city in the world.” They pride themselves on cultural diversity, coffee and beautiful outdoor spaces. And they are very competitive with Sydney, saying that Sydney is a one night stand, where Melbourne is the one that stays with you forever. I admit I didn’t know anything about this city until our friends moved here 4 years ago, but they adore it and I can see why!
This was a really cool awareness project about how to produce energy sponsored by CSIRO, the Australian version of NASA. The kids loved generating energy by swinging and the harder they pumped, the louder the music in the headphones became. Great PR idea!
City skyline view after a hike up to the Shrine of Remembrance
Alleys are known as “laneways” and this one was a very cool line of eateries where we grabbed sandwiches for lunch. Great people watching!
The beautiful Flinders Street train station. The story goes that England sent building plans for a station in Melbourne and Delhi, and they believe they got mixed up in transit. Maybe we’ll see the other one when we get to India.
Sculpture outside the magnificent public library where we started our walking tour.
The Grand Expo built to celebrate Australia’s boom with the gold rush and world exposition in the late 1800’s.
Luke chatting it up with Charlotte, our tour guide, between stops. She learned about our trip and her tour was part of our school assignment for the day. We learned a lot!
A few streets are open to the public for wall art (graffiti) and the images change every few days.
Je suis Paris
Celebrating the end of our tour on the South Bank (really proud of Luke for enduring it for 3 hours – with a few bribes!)
Out of our Comfort Zone to Explore the World 
Amazing!! The 1st graders have been following the blog and seeing the pictures! Several thought the birthday post was their favorite followed shortly by the glow worms. A few of them even wrote Luke letters! How long are you in AUS? Let me know of any Christmas traditions you see popping up. We are doing Christmas around the world this year! Love you guys! HBD Luke! Hope you got Em’s video message!
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