So...the U.S. Needs to step up their airplane game. My flight was 4 hours and I got beer/wine, copious amounts of beverages, a dinner, an ICE CREAM BAR, and a nice piece of chocolate. Seriously, I'm lucky if I get trail mix on my 4 hour flights. So I made it to Melbourne intact and well fed and got to my Hilton. I must say, I love having status. I got upgraded to a corner room suite that has a separate sitting lounge, a king size bed, two sinks, a stand alone spa tub and one of the best exec lounges I've been to. While the Internet is a little shaky, I can't complain about my digs. And it's got a bitchin' view of the skyline and downtown.
Melbourne does public transport and tourism right. They have a free tram that makes a big loop around the city and you can hop on and off whenever you want. This tram was a life saver. I first took it to the Melbourne Star, which is identical to the London Eye. I met a gentleman with a Toronto maple leafs watch, who was also a fan of the Blackhawks. He gave me some good recommendations of things to see and do while I was in town. Then the guy putting me in the pod was a Chicago Bulls fan and wanted to visit America and see a game. I told him come early in the season; everyone's still healthy and the weather isn't crap yet. It was a pretty view of the city and moved at the whopping pace of 1km/hour. When I approached it, I thought it wasn't even moving. Then I went down a lane way of shops and found one that had soccer stuff! I almost got a Soccerroo jersey, but not really my colors. So I found and Arsenal scarf and an AFL Northern Melbourne beanie. It's blue and says kangaroo on it, so I bought it, new Snowboarding hat! Hopped back on the tram and took it all the way around the city back to the Flinder's train station and walked over to the Melbourne Aquarium. A lot smaller than Shedd and took me about an hour to go through, but they had underwater tunnels and a manta ray that was easily 4 feet wide and 10 feet long. If I saw that while in the water and it was a wild animal, I would wet myself and probably scream. But behind several inches of glass and it being totally domesticated, I loved it. After I left the aquarium, I got lost. Like wandering around for 45 minutes trying to find one stupid street lost. On the way, I did find an ATM, an overpriced opal store, a piece of pizza, santa's village and some very weird Aussies. I suspect they might have been Bogans. I never did find the national opal collection, so I gave up and headed over to federation square. During the day there's a lot of performers and people in the square, so I grabbed an ice cream and plopped into one of the free chairs strewn about and peopled watched for a bit. Unfortunately, black skinny jeans in direct sun will only last so long before you overheat. So I hopped back on the tram to my stop and then walked through the Filtzory gardens back to my hotel. I found a need looking Italian place for dinner that is hopefully good. Today on the tram, I learned Melbourne has the largest population of Italians outside of Italy...the tram also spewed out facts along the drive. Tomorrow I've booked a tour to go to Philip Island and see the Penguins!!! Then Wednesday when I get my car I'm going to head out to the Great Ocean Road and see the Twelve Apostles, which is a rock formation in the ocean.
