Ginger Without Borders

Now that we have checked into the St. Regis Hotel (one of several historic hotels in Melbourne), I have a short reprieve from the mental drain of driving on the left side of the road. And the weather has blessed us with blue skies and 80+ degree temperatures. Melbourne has created a Free Tram Zone for its CBD (downtown), so after breakfast, we caught the Free Tram to the old Town Hall and walked across the Yarra River (and out of the Free Tram Zone) into the parklands that occupy the southeast quadrant of Melbourne along both sides of the Yarra River. The north side parks are the site of the Melbourne Olympic Park facilities and the south side hosts numerous historic statutes (including the Shrine of Remembrance, a World War I memorial based on the Parthenon, that is huge) and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

We spent the day in the Royal Botanic Gardens, which were founded in 1846. With almost 90 acres (and it covers only about a tenth of the south side of the parklands), the RBG features mostly Australian plants. Our favorite was the Fern Gully where we could escape the heat among the tons of fern trees, many of them just beginning to send out their new fronds as fiddleheads.

In Australian botanic gardens we have seen so far (Brisbane, Adelaide and now Melbourne), there are cafes set in the grounds. Unlike US municipal cafe facilities where the only drinks are soft, Australian cafes have a great selection of usually local beer. Of course, Dawn gets her pot of English breakfast tea, but I get to enjoy a local brew in the garden. My choice here was a Victoria Bitter. This was the view from the Melbourne botanic garden’s cafe.

And also unlike most US gardens, there were restrooms in little cabins scattered throughout the grounds, usually surrounded by sweet smelling plants. Like all the restrooms we have used in Australia, there was a metal box on the wall for the disposal of needles (apparently now a government requirement).

After a day of walking through the gardens, we had a great Greek dinner in Southgate, a new glass and steel development overlooking the Yarra River that divides Melbourne. Thanks to the Australian gold rush in the 1850’s, Melbourne has the largest Greek population of any city in world outside Greece, many of whom still speak Greek. And they own a number of the restaurants in Melbourne. Tomorrow we visit the aquarium.

PS., Lena, I spent some of your inheritance on ouzo and your Mom ate a whole plate of octopus. We walked all day, so your Mom is already asleep and I am safe for another night. (Although there was a moment after dinner when we couldn’t find a book store open. Mom has finished her book and wants to buy a new one so she can read before falling asleep. First thing tomorrow morning, we are going to a find a book store. We like Mom happy.)