The first thing we did today was clean ice off the windshield of the sexy red beast, at 8am in the morning. Franziska should have been the expert at this but we didn’t have a ‘thing’ as she called it – therefore we cleaned off the ice using tissues and hot breath… needless to say it took a while!
Off to sunny Salamanca Markets – we were there right from the opening at 8.40am. I think Franzi will always remember the markets as ‘that place that was absolutely freezing’. It was around 3 degrees when we got there and we lasted about five minutes walking around before we dashed into a warm coffee shop for breakfast. I had a Bruschetta, Franzi had a Panini and it was all very Italian, warm and delicious.
At around 9.30am we were out in the markets again for a quick look around – the weather wasn’t really conducive to standing in one spot and looking at things… power walking was required! There were lots of wooden things and lots of hippy things and lots of donut smells… very typical Salamanca :)
10am we met up with the mother of another exchange students that stayed with Franzi – this was a very quick chat but with a warm coffee that was enjoyed very much! Everything has seemed very rushed here… before long we were back in our little car and heading towards the airport.
The trip there took very little time and we found ourselves with an hour to wait at the very small Hobart airport. Oh well, we gloated at the Virgin Australia flight to Melbourne that was three hours delayed.
On the flight to Melbourne I bought a glass of white, cheese and crackers and sat reading Agatha Christie on my Kindle. There have certainly been worse flights.
And then – after a quick bus trip we arrived in the city and found our hostel with relative ease. This place is a bit amusing, our room is very very small (bunk bed!) and for the first time we don’t have our own private bathroom.. Ah, $35 a night plus breakfast included, we aren’t complaining.
First stop, the Crown Casino. It was across the road and on our way so we strolled through for a bit. So many shops I want to throw all my money at! It was all very shiny and Franziska was all very impressed and decided she is going to come back when she is 18 (and in summer – a comment she’s made a lot lately!).
We soon reached the SkyDeck… apparently the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere? Well there you go. It was smoggy and the view wasn’t amazing – still I was able to use my broken knowledge of the city to point out a couple of sights to Franzi. Soon, back down again.
At this point we still had three hours to kill before we had to be at the Regent Theatre so we headed off to get some food at the Hard Rock Cafe. After much much walking we arrived and discovered it had closed down around three years ago. Oh. Back we go.
After walking around in a big circle we ended up at a classy Italian restaurant recommended on Trip Advisor. This really was a nice little place, and keeping with the spirit of things, I ordered a wild rabbit ragout. Because I could. And a glass of wine and semifreddo afterwards. The whole thing only came to about $40, which was surprising considering the general calibre of the restaurant. The owner even poured sherry on our desserts for free :)
Then finally time to go see Love Never Dies at the Regent Theatre. This was glitzy, big and impressive in true Andrew Lloyd Webber style – you couldn’t fault the sets or the costumes or any of the voices. Franziska really loved it, more than the last musical. I…well, it didn’t blow my socks off like Mary Poppins did. I have to admit it was executed wonderfully. But the story? Really? I won’t spoil anything in here, but it just completely warped so much of the first musical… and I wanted to laugh in the final scenes. Everyone around me was getting very emotional though, so maybe I was just being overly picky! Still very glad I saw it :)
Our walk back to the hostel took us through the throngs of drunken people coming back from the footy. This prompted a discussion about the word ‘bogan’ (Franziska says she is not one because she goes to art galleries)which soon moved on to a discussion about a variety of other Aussie slang words. Good times.
Tomorrow, just a little bit more Melbourne. This still isn’t my favourite city in Australia but I have to admit it has personality and way too many things I want to buy. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!
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