Thursday, April 19, 2007
Well we arrived on time after over 30 hours of flying. Amazing. The flight between LA and Auckland was very bumpy so we didn’t get as much sleep as we would have liked. But the service on Qantas was fantastic. The seats were the best I have ever flown in. Very state of the art. We had a few scares along the way. When we checked in at RDU they couldn’t find our electronic Australian visas. Not good. Then after waiting for a while they said everything was ok. Then in LA they couldn’t find them again. Ai yi yi. Then Mark lost his boarding pass on the long flight and we had to get a new one issued in Auckland. Luckily one of the ground crew escorted us to the right place to do that.
We were exhausted when we arrived at 8:30am but we made a day of it to quickly get on local time. We couldn’t check into the hotel so we got a map and started to explore the city of Melbourne (pronounced “Melburn”). It is an interesting city. Kind of laid back and casual but with fun sites. There are many old and interesting buildings. Like the Arcade on Little Collins Street that was built in the 1880’s. Very cool.
When Mark pulled out his camera to take a picture up the street, a fire truck stopped and turned on his flashing lights just for us and our picture.
Then we bought train tickets and hopped on a train to South Yarra to the Chapel Street district. It was an upscale young urban kind of area with fun shops and restaurants. We ate outdoors at a café where the food portions were huge. I don’t remember so much food being served before. Anyway we did some more exploring and then got on a tram back to the city center. Lots of college students on the tram as we were very close to Melbourne University.
We checked into the Hotel, Saville on Russell and were very pleased with the room. It is a suite with a full equipped kitchen, living room, bedroom and huge bathroom. And a washer and dryer. Whoo hooo. The only thing missing was hot water as they were doing maintenance on the pipes. But who needs a shower after 36 hours. Luckily they have an indoor pool with a big Jacuzzi. Now that was nice.
Then we went shopping at a local grocery store that was underground and huge and bought some provisions for our kitchen. We worked on trying to find a place to eat for dinner as we wanted to make it an early night. Our hotel was on the edge of China Town so we tried to find a good place to eat. When the travel books state ‘reservations essential’ they mean it. The place we wanted to go was booked for both nights we would be in Melbourne, and also 2 other places. The concierge got us a reservation at Fortuna Gardens which turned out to be good. We brought our own wine at a nice wine shop on the way. When we sat down a woman from another table came over to talk to us. They are very friendly here. Now if she would have only turned off her cell phone that kept ringing all through dinner. The tune was something you’d here at a horse race.
Went back to the hotel and finally got to sleep. Wonderful.
Well we arrived on time after over 30 hours of flying. Amazing. The flight between LA and Auckland was very bumpy so we didn’t get as much sleep as we would have liked. But the service on Qantas was fantastic. The seats were the best I have ever flown in. Very state of the art. We had a few scares along the way. When we checked in at RDU they couldn’t find our electronic Australian visas. Not good. Then after waiting for a while they said everything was ok. Then in LA they couldn’t find them again. Ai yi yi. Then Mark lost his boarding pass on the long flight and we had to get a new one issued in Auckland. Luckily one of the ground crew escorted us to the right place to do that.
We were exhausted when we arrived at 8:30am but we made a day of it to quickly get on local time. We couldn’t check into the hotel so we got a map and started to explore the city of Melbourne (pronounced “Melburn”). It is an interesting city. Kind of laid back and casual but with fun sites. There are many old and interesting buildings. Like the Arcade on Little Collins Street that was built in the 1880’s. Very cool. When Mark pulled out his camera to take a picture up the street, a fire truck stopped and turned on his flashing lights just for us and our picture. Then we bought train tickets and hopped on a train to South Yarra to the Chapel Street district. It was an upscale young urban kind of area with fun shops and restaurants. We ate outdoors at a café where the food portions were huge. I don’t remember so much food being served before. Anyway we did some more exploring and then got on a tram back to the city center. Lots of college students on the tram as we were very close to Melbourne University.
We checked into the Hotel, Saville on Russell and were very pleased with the room. It is a suite with a full equipped kitchen, living room, bedroom and huge bathroom. And a washer and dryer. Whoo hooo. The only thing missing was hot water as they were doing maintenance on the pipes. But who needs a shower after 36 hours. Luckily they have an indoor pool with a big Jacuzzi. Now that was nice.
Then we went shopping at a local grocery store that was underground and huge and bought some provisions for our kitchen. We worked on trying to find a place to eat for dinner as we wanted to make it an early night. Our hotel was on the edge of China Town so we tried to find a good place to eat. When the travel books state ‘reservations essential’ they mean it. The place we wanted to go was booked for both nights we would be in Melbourne, and also 2 other places. The concierge got us a reservation at Fortuna Gardens which turned out to be good. We brought our own wine at a nice wine shop on the way. When we sat down a woman from another table came over to talk to us. They are very friendly here. Now if she would have only turned off her cell phone that kept ringing all through dinner. The tune was something you’d here at a horse race.Went back to the hotel and finally got to sleep. Wonderful.
1 comment:
Good show Guys.
Have a great time and keep the pictures coming. lou & Jane
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