So it is day one of my 28 days in Melbourne series. It was originally going to be 29 days for all the days of the leap February but I wasn’t feeling too well on Wednesday (the 1st day of February) and thus it has been cut down to 28 days in February. And now Day 1 hasn’t gone to plan as I haven’t quite managed to get myself sleeping early (say before 4:30am) and didn’t manage to wake up in time to make a day trip worthwhile.
I did get a 28-day pass loaded onto my myki quite easily despite the attempts of the local yobs scratching into the screen of the myki machine and made my way into the CBD. Instead of taking the train into Flinders St Station, I decided to get off at North Melbourne and catch the 401 bus to Grattan St, just in front of the University of Melbourne, and walk over to Flinders St instead with a detour to my favourite cafe for the best coffee in Melbourne (and, in all likelihood, the world).
On the way, I noticed that UoM had already finished their demolition of the old Elizabeth Towers Hotel building already. Well I guess progress needs to be made but I do miss that glass stairwell.
Now recently I had watched a documentary series by PBS on the prohibition called… well ‘Prohibition’ and something I learnt from that was that the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (the founders of the prohibition movement) had funded for public fountains to be placed in American cities to promote drinking water over alcohol. What I didn’t know was that there was a Victorian branch of the WCTU and that there is a fountain of theirs at the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, just across the road from the Queen Victoria Market. I’d seen it before but I always thought it was some statue. I’ll take a picture of it when I’m next wandering that area but I thought it was something interesting to note.
Anyway, after a coffee break at Brother Baba Budan, I thought I’d make use of Visitors Centre at Federation Square and grab some brochures to aid my travels. Do you think I got enough?
Well at least they were free (apart from the ‘Melbourne’s Golden Mile’ booklet, which costs $8 but is quite handy to have for a self-guided tour).
This may sound like it’s taken me an hour to do thus far, but it was 4:30 already! I wanted to do the Golden Mile walk but since some places are subject to limited opening hours, I had to call it a day for the exploring (I did visit some shops but I doubt you’d be interested in my search for a nose clip).
I have to say that the Visitors Centre is quite a useful place, especially for visitors (unless you were in search for a restroom, as some American tourists found out). But there is free wi-fi and (and Flinders St Station will soon offer free wi-fi too, I hear). Plenty of brochures, maps and very friendly and helpful staff.
So there you go. Tomorrow’s instalment will be Part One of the Golden Mile walk.
