Getting to Know the City

This weekend was wonderful!

Saturday, 21 July 2012

Kylen and I spent this weekend getting to know City*. Yesterday, we took a train from Blackburn Railway Station to Flinder's Street, the main station coming into the city from our direction.
From Flinder's street station, we ventured into the city and walked along the Yarra River. Our path yesterday is drawn in red on the map below.

From Flinder's Street Station where where the train took us, we walked East along the Yarra river with the HUGE crowd heading to the Footy match (Hawthorne v. Collingwood). They were moving to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), to the Southeast. We realized we weren't going anywhere, since we didn't have tickets or anything, so we turned around and headed back toward the station. We crossed the river and walked along the south bank, where we saw some absolutely incredible street performers! Wow! There are lots of photos on my blog, and there will soon be a video on youtube of one of them doing a pretty incredible stunt. I'll post a link to my youtube channel down below as well.
I took a lot of photos, posted on facebook, of our adventure including some beautiful skyline shots:)
We hopped on the train home from Flinders Street station, and had a bit of a scare when the train did a loop around the city before heading back on the route through which we came in. We did a good bit of panicking before seeking out a map to solve our problem. When we got back to Blackburn, we mosied our way back home on foot, because we didn't have the patience to wait for the bus.

On Saturday night, Tor, a woman I work with at school, had her birthday and was sweet enough to invite Kylen and me. It was such a great time, too! Many of the staff members from my school were at the party, and were so much fun to dance, drink, and eat with! We learned some new vocabulary*, and although we left at 11:30, for which we got a lot of flack, we still had enough time to have so much fun! Thanks so much Tor, Kathy, Rachel, Ash, Cyn, Jake, Blake, Glen, and everyone! It was a really, really great timing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9n4ApxB3Y0&feature=plcp

Sunday, 22 July, 2012

Today was even more exploration! Jocelyn and Rick dropped us off outside of the Queen Victoria Market (Marked by a blue dot on the map above). We spent the better part of the day weaving back and forth through the incredible number of stalls and tents selling merchandise. The Queen Victoria Market is one of the largest open air markets in the world, and there were a spectacular number of different products made in Australia and all over the world.
While looking around at the stalls I made an incredible discovery! I actually found my DREAM wedding shoes. I will not post a photo of them..I am embarrassed for buying another pair of shoes, but pretty certain that getting married is a decent reason to buy a new pair of shoes:) And even Sam agrees!
Anyway, after walking our way through the whole market, which was a lot of walking, we stopped at the food court to have some chips* and tomato sauce*. Then, we walked down Elizabeth Street, going into shops, arcades* and anything that seemed a little interesting to us.
We had a great time with no agenda, just exploring and becoming more familiar with being honorary Australians!
We caught the train home to Blackburn, and our lovely host Dad picked us up at the station, so we didn't have to wait forever for a bus:)
Tomorrow morning is back to school! As the second week back, we'll be really getting into the actual school year; and I can't wait!
Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Megan

*Refer to vocabulary at right of page