Four highlights on one day!

 

Grey skies, not too warm this Tuesday morning. Had a tour arranged at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and, no, it's not an elite historic English-style cricket clubhouse, but a rather modern, huge arena used for different sports (photo).

Passed by the Melbourne Tennis Center and famous Rod Lever Arena (left) on the way, equally impressive!

 

The MCG gets compared to the Wembley or the Yankee Stadium and dates back in 1853, when the then 15-year-old Melbourne Cricket Club was forced to move. Plenty of international cricket games took place here, but other sporting spectacles, too, including soccer, rugby, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, blockbuster concerts, pope's masses and Aussie football. Record crowd there was 121,696! On the world stage, the MCG’s most notable attendance record (still standing) is 1.153 million patrons for the 15 days of the 1956 Olympics.

The Australian Sports Museum is located in the stadium and that's where we spent time after the great tour with a cricket club veteran (photo above). The museum shows interactive exhibits and is a mecca for sports enthusiasts, celebrating the diverse sporting culture of Australia including Olympics etc.. A special exhibition with personal items and memorabilia honored Shane Warne,  a cricket legend (photo on left).

Next destination: The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, founded in 1846. We walked over from the MCG, along the river (photo above, right). The garden is more of a park, an arboretum in the English-style with historic cottage buildings and pavilions than the rather small-scale botanical gardens we know from home. 

It extends over 38 ha and houses a collection of  almost 50,000 individual plants representing 8,500 different species from around the world, including plant collections such as camellias, rainforest flora, cacti and succulents, roses, etc. It was developed scientifically by the German Ferdinand von Mueller (1857–1873) - who we met several times before! 

Below: Noisy Miner at work,,, 

 

Streetcar - very convenient in Melbourne! - brought us to St. Kilda Beach next, located just 6 km from downtown. Known for its palm-lined boardwalk, a long pier and a long sandy beach, we passed Luna Park - similar to the one in Coney Island/NYC - and the famous Sea Bath. Views went the Port Philip and the Cruiseship Harbour. Suddenly a storm went in, not much rain, but heavy winds. Hurried into town, to the center of St. Kilda to catch a tram back.

 

 

 

 

 

Evening entertainment and dinner at Queen Victoria M​​arket, where the last Wednesday Night Market took place for the season. The regular vendors were closed, but one big hall was transformed into a fun zone. As one of the great nineteenth century markets in Victoria it was Melbourne’s chief wholesale market and has played an important role in the economic and social history of the city. There was a stage set up, vendors of all kinds (jewelry, books, clothing, candles, artwork,,,) to be found, the Lord Mayor Nicolas Reece (photo below, right) was present greeting International Students who just started into their semester at Melbourne University, and, for them a Chinese New Year's Dance was presented.

 

 

But what was definitely different and unique were the food offerings: First, our Greek dinner,,,

 

 

Escargots above

Pasta

Paella

Greek skewers,,,

Over a dozen different countries at least sold their culinary specialities, Nepalese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, French (escargots!) and many more. Germany was only represented with a pretzel vendor outside,,, Never have seen such a variety and quality of food like here, nowhere in the world, and, all went for reasonable prices (10-20 Euro)! And our dinner really tasted like at a street vendor in Athens. Fantastic event! Photos below from our walk home.