Melbourne: Day 2

Today we checked out one of Melbourne's famous markets. We chose the Queen Victoria since it is the oldest (over 130 years) and most well known. Some of the stalls and buildings in the market have actually been registered by the National Trust. The walk to the market wasn't far and took us through the business center side of the city.  We were able to check out some of the architecture as we walked. Once we arrived we dove right in wandering through the fruits and vegetables over to the breads and cheeses and finally to the butchers and fish mongers. We couldn't resist not buying anything, so we settled on some bread, 2 types of cheeses and fruit for lunch. It just so happened that one of the butcher shops was Polish and as we passed I noticed some homemade breads on their counter. I stopped to inspect and discovered it to be poppy-seed roll; just in time for Easter! Of course, I bought some.

After pursuing the market we wandered over to Carlton Gardens where we sat dining on our purchases while watching a pick-up game of soccer in the park. Carlton Gardens is home to the Royal Exhibition Building. This was built in the 19th century to host the 1880 International Exhibition. In 1901 it was used to hold Australia's first parliament. Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage site (since 2004).

From here we wandered down Gertrude Street which is host to a number of artists and galleries. This is where Matt found his first Aussie souvenir: the Crumpler bag. This is a local Melbourne company that designs and makes bike messenger bags. Very cool. You can see a glimpse of the famous bag in "Melbourne Preview".

We next took a very long walkabout toward the Royal Botanical Gardens which are said to be the best in Australia, if not the world. On our way over we passed by the Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian Open is held every January. It is surrounded by a vast sea of blue practice courts.  Melbourne is interspersed by a variety of parks and gardens and we walked through 4 just making our way to the Botanical Gardens.  They were beautiful gardens and paths, but after another full day of walking our feet were beat.  We headed back to our room to rest and finish the rest of the bread, cheese and prosciutto before going out again to catch a comedy show at the Forum.

Turns out even though the show was in this wonderful old theater, our venue inside was little bigger that a broom closet.  They had 5 rows of 5 chairs crammed into this room (about 10 x 20 feet) and the comedian started out his act by making jokes about the room.  We actually picked this show because we met the comedian on the street the night prior.  He turned out to be pretty funny but the room made the whole thing a bit weird.