melbourne zoo and more

 Prefab Iron house (were 3 of them) which were brought from England for the workers and tradespeople during the goldrush era (lates 1800's)

a south melbourne alley, lots of alleys all over

the great Stella (cat) and Goyyo

it truly was fall, tree next to the apartment

christopher and Goyyo

our first sighting of kangaroo (in zoo) little did we know we would see hundreds more
"in the wild"

emu at the zoo

wombats at the zoo

echidina feeding time

the great koalas, so easy to take photos of them since they move very, very little

so many wonderfully colored birds

kookaburra

just the seals and us at the zoo, the keeper took the photo

 

 

 

The Queen Vic market is closed on Wed so we took tram to south melbourne market to procure food for dinner. We gave the 3 boys and Lynne a break from all the cooking and gladly took on the job of cooking when we were in the house. Made going to the markets more fun. We explored the area around the market, saw the portable iron houses, the huge South Melbourne Town Hall which is a very large Victorian building  restored in recent years when the neighborhood was becoming gentrified and some other very pretty examples of Victorian architecture which now house many artsy stores as well as many people's homes.   One afternoon we took tram to Melbourne Zoo to see the biggies of Australian wildlife up close and personal - the kangaroo, emu, koala, echidna, wombat, platypus (he was reluctant to come out, we try going back about 3 times), and many exotic birds. Fun zoo, very few visitors on a crisp fall late afternoon.

 

 

more of melbourne

Yarra river which divides melbourne

Yarra River with trees turning

same full moon we saw in Doha

loved the victorian architecture which was all over the city

Rod Laver Arena and some of the many (18?) outdoor courts where the Australian Open is played in Jan. Would LOVE to be able to spend the day here at that time.

We walked everywhere all over Melbourne. It truly was fall with crisp and cool mornings and evenings and warmish days. 

Melbourne

Royal Arcade outside

and inside

many of the small alleys have some great graffitti

there were many wonderful late 1800's buildings

inside "The Block" arcade with a very old chocolate shop

another arcade we explored

the great Flinders St Train Station, was many blocks long

Flagstaff Park, Melbourne

magpie having a snack

flaming galahs, they were a very pretty pink color

our path to the market

flagstaff garden

they had the biggest trees I have ever seen in their parks, great places for the hiding possums during the day

Beginning of Australia trip May 15-May 17, 2011

bonus of flying on qatar airways was that we got to see Matthew for a fish dinner

and we had a superb choice of fish

and view of the skyline of doha under a great full moon.

  Arriving  in Melbourne we were met with great smiles from Christopher and Martin. Was very exciting to see them after  our 24 hr door to door flight. They had a great dinner waiting for us (we arrived at 9 pm) and we were delighted to get to bed.

Melbourne on our first day we toured the "queen vic" market and picked up food for dinner  that evening

we did not buy kangaroo

There was a  wonderful, abundant fish section -so many kinds of fish at reasonable prices

The market is a fun place and it had the added advantage of being only a 5 minute walk from our hosts' house, plus we got to walk through Flagstaff Park on way to market. Park had wonderful exotic birds in trees and at night possums appeared in and on the trees.  Was very entertaining. Market had everything - great meat (tons of kinds of sausages), fish, veggies, wine, tons of local beers and cheeses, breads, greek and italian products, lots of fun. There was another whole section of clothes, objects, Ugg boots and much more. Isn't open everyday but we got to enjoy it a few times while we were in Melbourne and made planning dinner for the 6 of us fun.

australia May-june 2011

Trying desperately to get up some blogs but I can't find the cord to connect my camera to computer. I may have to order a new one so it could be a very long time before any photos appear. Trip was great - lovely people, beautiful scenery, spectacular harbor in Sydney, Melbourne lots of fun. GReat Ocean Dr - stunning scenery. Tasmania, wonderful fresh air, great harbor. Wildlife was lots of fun to see. And the best was being able to see both Matthew and Christopher in one trip. all in all great trip.

Rome Tennis Open May 2011

maria sharapova, top ranked russian who also models

one of the great mussolini era statues

perfect size small court to see very well, soccer stadium in background . not too many tennis stadiums are surrounded by these great 1930's era sport statues and umbrella pines

another fascist era statue

marion bartoli, best woman's player in france

mardy fish, one of the U.S top players

campo centrale, the main tennis stadium in background. This guy is ready to play, racket in right hand, ball in left

weather was stunning

the skier

lest we forget who constructed the "foro Italico"  sports area. Couldn't get it all in but the obelisk reads "Mussolini Dux"

pleasant walk crossing the Tiber to get from tram to stadium

Had a great birthday doing one of the things I love to do - watching tennis, in this case for 7 hours. The Foro Italico sports area in Rome is a wonderful space. It houses great swimming pools, the enormous soccer stadium, two tennis stadiums and for the tournament another 7 outdoor courts. The area has wonderful fascist era statues and mosaics. It is one of my very favorite areas to tour around in. We had a picture perfect day to view the tennis, sun, not hot and cool in the shade. loved it.  Since this was really day one of the tournament the big guns (nadal, federer,djokovic) hadn't arrived yet. Hope to see them later in the week.