Friday, January 20, 2012

World Traveler

I haven't even made it to New Zealand yet, and the idea of another country just excites me. I've gotten the travel bug, and I don't think I can make it go away until I see the world. I'm reading "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame, and this passage stuck out to me in regards to the subject of my new-found need to explore.

"Today, to him gazing South with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the clear sky over their long low outline seemed to pulsate with promise; today, the unseen was everything, the unknown the only real fact of life." - The Wind in the Willows

Enough of the future traveling; Back to today's adventures. We visited and toured the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, where we also learned some cricket history. Seeing the inner workings of this stadium reminded me of my trip to New York City, where I saw the New York Knicks locker room and other private areas of the complex. The Melbourne Stars have a nice facility, with a capacity to hold 100,000 people. Needless to say after throwing that number out there, the place was huge. A hilarious, easily excitable, 77 year old man led us on the tour. He made the entire morning better, as he was genuinely in love with his job as a volunteer tour guide.


A Panoramic picture of the stadium I took
After leaving the cricket grounds, a group of students headed to Federation Square (remember that place from the first day in Melbourne?), to eat lunch. Against my instincts regarding the cute factor of kangaroos, I ordered the char-grilled kangaroo. It was delicious, and well worth the cost. You can't cook kangaroo as much as beef, because the meat will get very tough, so they serve it medium rare. I have never even ordered a steak medium rare, so the light red meat staring at me from my plate was an experience in and of itself. It wasn't bad at all though, and I may begin ordering my steaks that way!
Yummy Kangaroo
On the way back from the Cricket Grounds, I hopped off the tram early so I could explore the market a bit. I honestly believe that one could find anything they were looking for at the Queen Victoria market. There were, clothes, toys, art, meat, vegetables, fruit, plants, and souvenirs. I shopped a bit, and found a few things for family members, before heading back to my room for a short nap.






After a refreshing nap, and some dinner (I ate my leftover kangaroo), we headed out to a play called "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll". The play began in Melbourne back in 1957 and portrayed authentic Australian life and characters. The actors did a superb job at making the audience laugh, but also did well in the more serious moments of the play. I’ve only been to a handful of plays, but I must say, this one put itself at the top of my list. It was a three hour long event, but I didn’t get bored. Anything that can hold an audience’s attention for that length of time deserves a good word!

1 comment:

  1. emily, Grandma and I have really enjoyed reading your blog, and looking at all your pictures. We feel as though we are right there with you. We wish we were. Have fun. We love you!!!

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