We arrived in Melbourne on a Saturday afternoon when the city—and especially the area around the Adelphi Hotel in the city center (described in the guidebook as a “small, modern, boutique hotel with a vibrant modern design you’ll either love or hate”, thus indulging Joan’s penchant for the offbeat)—was totally jammed with people. And I mean totally. One could hardly see the sidewalk beneath one’s feet, and we waited to drive through a major intersection for twenty minutes as pedestrians surged across the street, disregarding the little red men on the traffic lights. What with the start of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, the ODI cricket between England and Australia, not to mention the Australian Lego Bricklovers Convention in the City Hall (producing a queue that was four abreast around several city blocks)—the place was packed. In addition, on Sunday, there was the Midsumma Festival of Queer Culture, along the Yarra River bank, which also drew a large crowd.
But what struck us most were the enormous contrasts between the older High Victorian buildings—public buildings especially—and the amazing modern architecture. In the Gold Rush of the 1850’s, Melbourne obviously prospered, producing a huge spurt in public and private building during the late Victorian period. But now they stand in strong contrast to the dazzling modern architecture throughout the central city—the skyscrapers, the National Gallery of Victoria, Federation Square, the blocks of modern apartments in the old Dockland district, and elsewhere.
So here are some contrasts between the Victorian and the modern, with Joan taking the pictures and making the photo selections.
Royal Arcade, Melbourne’s oldest surviving arcade, which was built in 1869
Princess Theater, now featuring “Hairspray”
Eureka Tower, a 985 ft. skyscraper named after a rebellion that took place during the gold rush days, which includes a skydeck on the 88th floor and a glass cube that slides out 10 ft. from the side of the building for visitors who have no fear of heights.
Docklands, a redevelopment area of over 490 acres of harbour, marina and public spaces, as well as shops and restaurants.
Pedestrian access bridge to Convention Centre
The period of Melbourne’s growth coincided with the era of the widespread growth of public parks—they are everywhere here, from Fitzroy Gardens to the Botanical Gardens, Kings Domain, Alexandra Gardens, and more. All beautifully manicured.
And Melborne has enormous sports complexes. The Melbourne Cricket Club stadium is huge, and there we watched most of a one day international (ODI) cricket match of 50 overs (meaning that a match which began at 2:20 pm finished around 10 pm under the floodlights) between England and Australia.
Of course, we had to adhere to the requisite standard of dress and etiquette.
There is also the Rod Laver arena, and the outdoor tennis area where we were able to peep into some of the early games of the Open.
Nearby is soccer stadium with the exterior designed to look like soccer balls.
And on the river, amateur athletes, whether runners, cyclists, or rowers, were out in force along the Yarra River.
An intrepid guest at our hotel had the option of using its rooftop pool. Where the narrow rectilinear pool jutted out over the edge of the building, the floor of the pool and end wall were made of plexiglass, affording the swimmer a birds-eye (fish eye?) view of the passersby eight stories below on the street.
Melbourne also has a wonderful system of trams (or, for the American readers, street cars) while by contrast it also has a system of freeways, toll-ways, tunnels, and motorways, as well as an extensive train system, which utilizes as its main terminus the wonderfully preserved Flinders Street Station, completed in 1910.
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