Going solo

Finally time to stretch my wings a bit! I took the tram from Kew into town, but got off a few stops earlier than one might have expected. I wished to visit St. Partick’s cathedral, which is in truth quite magnificent. The grounds were lovely, and the interior was quite humbling, as catholic churches tend to be.

From there I took a very round trip into town, through the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens, although the latter was due to a bit of a wrong turn. It is quite amazing to see such natural beauty, and yet at the same time to see the high rise buildings peeking from behind the tree branches. And the weather was perfect as well, in the high 30s and perfectly sunny.

From the gardens I went into the hustle and bustle of the CBD, the crowded shopping streets, Chinatown, the whole lot. I walked and walked, and ended up walking for over three hours before I sat down to have the most expensive cup of juice I have ever had. $6.00 for a half liter cup. Then again, it was freshly squeezed from strawberries, oranges and a banana, with added guarana and vitamin-e powder.

While sitting there, at the corner of Flinders and Swanson street, in the shade of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a walking tour group of American tourists arrived there, stopped and wer told the following things:

“Across the street here you will notic a familiar symbol. Hungry Jack’s. Don’t know where you’ve seen that before? Well, you call it Burger King in America. You see, there was this family business registered with that name here, and they refused to sell to Burger King, so they had to rename it. Looking to your left from that, you will notice McDonald’s…”

At this point I zoned out. They were standing under the shadow of a cathedral, a stone’s throw from the Yarra river, with both Federation Square and Flinders Street Station in their field of view. And what they were told was stories about fast food places? I managed to keep my composure, but I could hear no more of this.

I continued my way to Fed. Square where I spent some time basking in the sun and wondering about the Finnish flags hoisted on every pole in front of the square. The square is quite like the area around Kiasma in the center of Helsinki, both made in a rather odd ultramodern style. Then I descended down o the river and walked along that for a while.

Coming back up, I walked around Flinders street station and up Degraves, from where I continued back up to Collins street. Deciding I had seen enough, I took the tram back home. It was a very good walk and I managed to loose quite a few kilos, back down one belt size, to what it was when I arrived. Teo and Barb were out, so Nicky and young David came over and we had dinner. After dinner we watched a Harry Potter movie, after which they departed.