Black is the New Black!

So if you ever come to Melbourne and want to blend, wear black, and lots of it. Jen and I were dressed in lovely pink tones, and boy did we scream "not from here." We're not exaggerating when we say it looked like people were dressed for a very major funeral. I wish I would have taken a picture, it was really surreal.

Sweet home Chicago...errr Melbourne. This city feels very very similar to Chicago, or at least Chicago in the last 10 years. Melbourne has a river flowing through it with many bridges for cars, pedestrians, trains and trams. It is a sprawling city with modern architecture mixed with classic style buildings from the turn of the century and they have an amazing art culture here as well. Lots of outdoor sculpture. We didn't really realize the similarities until we were out and about in the city. Jen was dying for an italian beef or a Chicago dog....but no such luck!

In the morning we took the tram to St. Kilda which is a beach community with cute little boutique shops. We accidentally got off the tram a little early, which was fine because we got to walk through a cool old victorian neighborhood, the houses were all adorned with fancy scroll iron work think Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp style houses.

We met our bike guide Michelle, an energetic and knowledgeable Melbourne native, at the St. Kilda bike shop as well as our tour partner Barbara, a fun young woman from Germany who was also out on holiday. Best of the all they were able to survive spending the whole day with the three of us and in fact Michelle thought our humor was very close to Australian folks, a lot of very witty and intelligent people live here apparently.

The bike tour was fantastic, we were able tour through St. Kilda, and got some background info on their, um, nightlife? Both female and male's can make a pretty good living after dark in St. Kilda apparently. You would not be able to tell this by day at all, but it is definitely known by the locals. Google Madame Brussels for some interesting history on Melbourne after dark 100 years ago. From St. Kilda we went to see the beach and then the port where Gram & Paps' would have arrived on their cruise had they been able to make the journey. We then made our way back into downtown Melbourne stopping at various points of interest, Beacon Cove, Federation Square, Flinder's Square, and loads of hidden little spots. Hidden spots are in fact the best part of Melbourne. All the cool culture is hidden, art, cafes, shops, clubs and hip hangouts. Alleys we would avoid at home are the places that lead to magic little finds in Melbourne. The city is covered in really beautiful street art, that is not just random tagging, but thoughtful and creative.

As we ended the tour back in St. Kilda, soars bottoms and all. We stopped in one of their famous cake shops for a much deserved treat. We rode back to town with Barbara and shared some laughs, we parted ways and headed to the Royal Botanical Garden for the best view of Melbourne in the city. It was awesome. All in all it was a fantastic first full day down under.

Love T&J

Mandy's Accidents so far:
Day 1. Attacked by foreign bathtub, burst a blood vessel, see pic. (make sure you are not hungry.)
Day 2a. Somehow managed to attach bicycle handlebar to innocent elderly women's backpack and dragged her a couple meters, apologizing while doing so.
Day 2b. Almost flattened by city bus while riding too far over in lane. With Jen and Trish screaming "Mandy bus, BUS, BUSSSSS!"
Day 2c. Collided with curb near Flinder's Station, handful of swears followed as well as an "Oh god" as traffic wizzed by.

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Location:Melbourne