Melbourne!

Thursday we had no day tour planned, so we rode a tram to downtown Melbourne. We saw the State Library of Victoria, which had a huge dome, galleries of artwork, and even a chess room! 

Then we took a walking tour through the laneways and arcades of Melbourne. On those tiny streets, away from the cars, it’s easy to forget you’re in a huge city. It’s very peaceful and since a lot of the restaurants in the laneways are cafes or chocolate shops, they feel like tiny streets in Paris. 

We also saw street art and street performers:

The City Purse

Then we went to Federation Square and visited the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

I’d never been in a museum devoted to film before, and it was really cool! We got to see Australian tv commercials, clips from old films, and exhibits about the techniques used to make movies.

We had dessert and then saw a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado. I really enjoyed the Mikado! I was laughing out loud at some of the antics of Ko-Ko, Nanki-Poo, and Yum-Yum. It's surprising to me how something which was written in the 1880's could still make me laugh out loud today. I guess humor really hasn't changed much in one hundred thirty years.

Even hot chocolate is very fancy in Melbourne!

Terry and the stage!