An Update to a Weekend in Melbourne

Melbourne is, as any Melburnian (?) will tell you, a very sophisticated and livable city.  Lots of black clothing about.  Chicly dressed women.  A great public transportation system (trams, free hop-on, hop-off tourist buses, a dedicate free tourist tram (the Circle Line), etc.  Great food - especially Asian - a very dynamic place.  They also sell a lot of high-end fashion.  Good fishing (south of town).  Strange plays (see the last post).  They even had a COSTCO - but the deals weren't as good.  Here's a little walk through the visit:

OK - we get it.  Another typically Australian sign warning you
that it's ALL YOUR FAULT IF ANYTHING -
GOD FORBID - HAPPENS; WE WARNED YOU.
Great Hotel  (Hotel Urban) - Fitzroy Street - West St. Kilda.
You get free access to the St. Kilda Sea Baths
down the street, with a cold plunge in the ocean.

Luna Park - old -fashioned amusement park on the beach -
Lots of innocent fun with Australian kids having a great time
on the old-fashioned carousel.

Couldn't resist.

St. Paul's Cathedral.  The price of war, paid in spades by this family.
Spare a thought for these three brothers the next time you are in church.
All I could think about was their mother.
This is a real "Saving Private Ryan."

Lest We Forget.

Flinders Street Train Station, downtown.

The Regent Theater.  Great 1920's architecture.  Reminded me
of the OHIO Theater in Columbus or the Loew's in downtown Akron.
They don't build them like this anymore and more's the pity.

The State Library Reading Room.  By sheer luck we decided
to go into the State Library and discovered a wobnderful art gallery,
a historical exhibit on Melbourne and best of all -
NED KELLY'S HOMEMADE ARMOR MADE OF WELDED PLOWSHARES.
Ned Kelly is a major cultural touchstone for anti-establishment Australians.
Think Jesse James. The late Heath Ledger even made a movie about it.
The Constabulary finally cornered him and his brothers in a hotel, set fire to it,
wounded him, jailed him and then finally hung him in the Melbourne Gaol.
More on that later.

Ned's armor below.

Ned's death mask.
You can see where the rope broke his neck.
My jury is out on Ned as to whether he was
a hero or not.
He did burn a lot of  mortgage papers, though.

So of course the next stop was the Melbourne Gaol.
They don't shy away from telling the story of the many hangings there.
Not even to very small children. 

By the way - she's standing on the trap there.
And that's a rope hanging from the very beam that
Ned was hung from.  There was a very detailed
explanation of the physics of hanging with the
sweet little girl saying at the end:  "But I don't want YOU to die..."

Time to go to bed.  More on the Melbourne (pronounced Melbun) trip, including
my adventures fishing the wily flathead by Marlon Ikins ("While I hold the camera, my assistant Debbie will dive to the bottom of Phillip Bay to free the hook snagged on the coral reef...") later.

Stay tuned for Part  III.  At the moment I have two cats crawling across the keys insisting I go to bed.