As the traffic management systems of Melbourne have beaten us into submission we decided that rather than attempt to go to the You Yangs we would walk SP1 to school at Carlton Gardens and explore some territory nearby. I thought that if things worked out we could also take a tram out to St Kilda.
The day began with a quite pleasant sunrise sort of visible through the buildings.
It was quite a short walk to school with SP1 - a little surprising as she was in penguin mode. On arrival there were already a few punters on the street. (Obfuscation added by me.)
When the gate opened the horde poured in towards the new school building.
This is the
old school building dating from 1884.
We then headed off into Fitzroy. For some reason I had thought of that as being in the Western suburbs rather than the inner East. This means that in the 1989 or 1990 the answer to Wendy Harmers question "What are the three VFL teams whose name begins with F?" had 1 entry in the West (Footscray) and 2 in the East (Fitzroy and F
🤬🤬🤬ing Collingwood). We walked along Gertrude St, which seemed to have a very active residents group and got to the club on Brunswick St. I was intrigued by the name of the beer and its description as "an honest mistake".
The Fitzroy Town Hall.
Two approaches to new development along Brnswick St: proto-Stalinist tower and quasi Le Corbusier coloured concrete
Part of the "Brunswick St Precinct". I have a suspicion that the aim of this precinct is to protect those building while erecting more proto-Stalinist stuff on any other block the developers can lay their grubby paws on.
I can't remember quite where this mantis-art was other than to the East of Brunswick St and close to a very welcome public dunny! Again just about every flat surface has been sprayed, generally with skill. Very little basic tagging.
I'm not sure how comfortable the seats would be but they looked attractive. The 'eyes of fish' in the bar window were intriguing.
St Vincent's Cathedral looked interesting but had been taken over for a school kids Mass so old farts were not allowed in.
We got into the Museum for a few shekels. I suspect that having once been there we can wipe that off our bucket list and never go again. Not much there we were interested in (no shells or bird displays) but lots of very noisy AV displays and hyperactive school groups. A huge element of the Museum was a Forest exhibit with full size eucalypts built in and free flying birds (including this Buff-banded Rail).
Our next planned stop was the Exhibition Building. However it is now, as the security dude politely put it, effectively a hospital.
Occasionally - in the case of Melbourne VERY occasionally - the ducks line up. In this case the queue was formed on Nicholson St where one of the two tram lines was #96 which is the only one that goes to St Kilda! So we hopped on, with our masks on and swiped our Myki cards. Just as well as these dudes in hi-vis were the card checkers!
On getting to St Kilda we had a nice sandwich for lunch and then walked out on the pier to see if any penguins were visible. That would be hard in the early afternoon anyway but made harder by Parks having shifted the boundary of their Evil Empire back to the kiosk for unknown reasons. The Yacht Club have been equally useful by closing off their access "because of COVID". So all you can see is evidence of penguins.
Coming back I got excited about 2 very large gulls. Were they Kelp Gulls? Nope, just Pacific Gulls.
About this point we began to think we were experiencing Groundhog Day. Out on the pier Frances heard a couple talking Russian which triggered memories of Coney Island 2006 and then as we got close to Acland St there seemed to be a lot of connections being made, - back to
Cheeseman Park in Denver 1981.
As darkness fell there was tennis coaching going on out back. Couldn't work out what the idea of all the things on the court was, but they had obviously used a lot of balls!
Some images of the city by night. I think this view is looking North.
Defintely out towards the sea.
Sort of East I think, with the large stream of light being Victoria Parade.
On the corner of Franklin and Swanston is a building with an artificial rock-climbing wall. Some nights when we have gone past - without cameras needless to say - there have been quitre a few people on the walls butthis time it was quiet.
Some images of the city by night. I think this view is looking North.
Defintely out towards the sea.
Sort of East I think, with the large stream of light being Victoria Parade.
On the corner of Franklin and Swanston is a building with an artificial rock-climbing wall. Some nights when we have gone past - without cameras needless to say - there have been quitre a few people on the walls butthis time it was quiet.
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