Final Hours in Melbourne

Well in less than 12 hours we will be heading for the airport and beginning the LONG trip home. It has been an awesome trip and one we don't regret taking. After we dropped off things at our hotel we headed out again for a little bit to do some final exploring. Melbourne is more of a walking sightseeing city. You don't even need to go into buildings to get a taste of the culture. The architecture is phenomenal. It is the capital of Victoria and the 2nd largest city in Australia. The sizes of the buildings and the renovations they have done turning them into productive businesses from old unoccupied churches and government buildings to hotels, restaurants, pubs or stores is remarkable.

On our walk tonight we were going to do some pub visits, but when we got to some of them we didn't stay because it was not quite our bag. Too many oddities to contend with, from how you enter to the type of patrons and not set guidelines as to what to do when you enter...wait to be seated, order yourself,.

We then walked past St. Paul's Cathedral. It is the Anglican church. We had seen it yesterday but didn't go in. I had read that it was definitely worth a trip inside and am I ever glad I did. It was spectacular. The stained glass windows were beautiful.

Leaving there we stopped at the Atrium. It is next to/part of Federation Square. I still don't really know the purpose of these 2 buildings/areas but there were huge TV screens around. The view at night is very colorful, both in decor and people.

We are back at the hotel and starting to pack. When we finish we are going down to the lobby for another game of Snookers. Donna is definitely a gluten for punishment as Jack beat her something like 51 to 2 last evening.

G'Day to all of you. We sent a lot of pictures and entries today 0n this blog so make sure you scroll down to see all the pictures and entries. The downloads in Melbourne have been super fast and free so we were able to send extra pictures.

Check back as we will probably send another note once we return home. We plan to arrive home Monday evening around 11:52 PM but that is only if we make it through customes in LA and make our connecting flight. There is only 75 minutes between the 2 flights. We both wouldn't mind getting stuck in LA for an extra day to break up the trip. Take care.