In Which It Becomes A Bit More Vacation-Like

[serinde]

It's Monday evening for us now, so let me play a bit of catch-up ball. First, I should note that, yes, I'm still kinda sick. No fever, but my sinuses are intermittently full of yugh, I have a bad bronchial cough, and I'm seriously off my feed: enough so that I'm half worried that's why I haven't gotten over it all yet. I am not permitting this to stop me, but it's having its effect on my energy levels and mood. Also sometimes hard to sleep, but far more along that line is that I keep waking up at sparrow's fart with my brain utterly awake and racing. I don't know if that's a jet-lag thing or what. Anyways, forthwith, an update:

We woke up a bit on the early side, considering the exhaustion levels, and walked out into the city to hunt some breakfast. As noted, we are in Melbourne's CBD ("Central Business District")--think Wall St. area, so they sort of roll up the sidewalks on weekends & evenings. However, if you go just a little bit north and east things are more lively. We ended up in an outdoor cafe on Swanston St. just north of what I think is City Hall, which was more than acceptable. M & K are quite right: the coffee here is DEFINITELY a cut above. Nom nom nom. We noticed a poster for a comic book/sci fi/ "pop culture" convention going on (interesting bit: the character front and center was Ms. Marvel), and I was momentarily tempted but nobly put it from my mind. We walked around for a bit then came back to the room, and Steve had a lie-down while I went out and sorted our cellphone issues. (Upshot: we now are the proud owners of an unlocked GSM phone. So I don't have to borrow sweh's next time I go to England, I guess.)

The afternoon was used up just exploring the downtown area, looking at shops, etc. This is A Shopping Area but much in the same, I sense, that Fifth Avenue is--no one you know actually purchases stuff there. Exceptions were the little tiny lanes that lead off the actual streets. Some of these are just alleyways with faceless doors and piles of garbage (AC/DC Lane is one of these, it somehow delights me to note--though I suspect at least one of its doors may have been a club), whereas others have interesting shops and cafes. Unfortunately--or perhaps fortunately, for my weeping pocketbook--Steve is The Worst Person In The Entire World to go shoes or clothes shopping with, because he is square. Distressingly, disturbingly square. Anything with the least bit of quirk or funk he screws up his face in the "are you seriously thinking of wearing that?" way. And yet he professes to like punk. I ask you--! Anyways it seriously crimps my style, so I did not spend much time in these endeavors. I did find a Damon Runyon collection for $10 in a second-hand bookstore. It delights me that I've come halfway around the world to find the quintessential New York author. Extra delight: this particular collection was put together at the time by an English fan of Runyon for sale to his countrymen, and it has an introduction that's half defensive, half paean; I love it.

Note to nedlnthred: Shoes. There are some real goddamn cool shoes around here, which surprises me a bit since one hears a lot more about Australian casualness than Australian fashion. See if googling "Zoe Wittner" gets you anything. So far don't have any refs for fashion mags, will keep looking.

We just missed a weekly arts-n-crafts fair that goes on beside the river, underneath the Arts Centre. This made me sad as, just based on the few things we saw being carted away by the last of the merchants packing up, it looked pretty darn cool.

Ensued then our first Melburnian tram adventure, which involved a certain amount of comedy because I failed to ascertain exactly how one purchases a ticket. I knew you had to have coins, which I did, but could find no machine. (Answer: They're in the middle of the cars.) Ended up riding for free, desperate outlaws we. The purpose of the excercise was to meet blarglefiend and crypticgirl for dinner up Lygon St.--which I hope I have more time to explore further, but I don't know if we will--at a quite tasty place that is a favorite of theirs, following up with pastry and hot chocolate at Brunetti, which is An Institution (and I see why). We came back early, roughly 8:30, and went to bed within the hour. Then Steve was up the first half of the night due to the extra chili oil he dumped on his prawn linguini (der. I knew that was going to happen) and I was up the second half due to aforementioned racing brain. Then we were both woken up at a bit past dawn by the hotel fire alarm going off. Hurrah!

After all this we said "heck with it" and got up for the day at 8:30. We proceeded to the Pancake Parlor, though got sucked into a deliriously wonderful music store called Missing Link Records for awhile first (though I'm just not sure about a place that lumps stoner rock into the same catch-all section as death metal), and had a hearty breakfast along with actual filtered coffee, which is something of a rarity in this burg. Not that I ordinarily mind drinking espresso or cappuccino instead, but I was feeling pretty rocky and having good strong regular coffee was a nice thing. We planned to go to the Nick Cave exhibition at the arts centre first, and then to the Melbourne Aquarium.

So, this exhibition. Wowser. First, it seemed odd to have this kind of microscopic inspection into the personal effects and notes of someone who's still alive. I'm not minding! Believe me! But usually you don't get that sort of meticulous going-over until you are safely dead, it seems to me. They had scores of his personal notebooks--like dariodevil, he seems to take one and absolutely fill it cover-to-cover with notes, thoughts, images, etc. every second of the day--not to mention more esoteric creations he's made, like the three years in London he kept a weather diary in annoyance with the shitty English weather, or the comparison book of images from a childrens' lives of the saints with old-style pornographic prints that echoed the same images. There were periodic small flyer/posters that had his thoughts on [whatever bit of ephemera it was next to], e.g. next to his notebook pages that had the lyrics to "Mercy Seat" were his comments on when Rick Rubin called him up to say "oh and by the way, Johnny Cash would like to cover this song of yours..." I really wanted to take pictures of the whole thing, not for memory's sake but because I found it very interesting how the exhibit was set up and I wanted to show it to nedlnthred, who is doing a lot of exhibition Stuff in her course work right now. We spent probably more than an hour watching the series of videos they had, which started with Some Guy With A Camcorder during one of the Bad Seeds' earliest recording sessions (Nick Cave used to look incredibly gothy! Kawaiiiiiii! ... all right, I don't think there has ever been a moment of his existence where the man has not defined dark sensuality), included some more traditional retrospectives, and finished with some coverage of the most recent double album. So, yes, it was a terrific thing to have seen, and we lucked out 'cos it's closing in a few days. On the down side, Nick Cave's music has a very visceral, emotional impact on me, and I've been sort of emo and moody the whole afternoon since.

By this time it was mid-afternoon and long past lunchtime. This did not seem like an insoluble problem, since we were right next to a large shopping & eating complex. However, we began to discover in the course of our wanderings that, at least in this particular complex, it seemed customary for kitchens to close between lunch and dinner. Now I wouldn't be surprised to find this in a high-class restaurant in a tony district, but people, imagine if the restaurants at South Street Seaport did this. You see what I mean? Eventually we found a place that seemed to still have food up, and we were seated; and lo! the $10 lunch special was still on. So we ordered that. The host came back unto us and regretfully said that it ended fifteen minutes ago, so sorry. Okay, so we prepared to order off the main menu. Then I noticed that there was no pizza on the menu, even though "Roman style pizza" appeared to be their signature dish. So I asked if pizza was available? Oh, of course, and the waiter went to find us the (separate!) pizza menu. We looked that over, and prepared to order again, and then the host came back to say, so sorry, pizza wasn't available until 5pm.

...

Steve got pasta, I got risotto. They brought him another Coke. They brought me one, too, which I hadn't asked for. I said so, noting that I'd asked for water. They gave me the Coke free, but never brought the water. And, crowning hilarity: I asked to have the remainder of my risotto packed up to go, since (per usual this week) I didn't eat more than a third of it. The host was once more apologetic: "I'm sorry, madam, we can't do that for health and safety regulations."

....

So, um, every other restaurant we've been to has been merrily flouting health regs? I think not, my good man. But we didn't care enough to make a fuss. We did give the host one more thing to apologize about, when Steve asked what the CD playing was (if Hawkwind had continued their music development along the line they started with "The Business Trip", they might have sounded something like this by now), and he could not find it out.

By this time, there wasn't any point to heading over to the Aquarium (even if it was still open), and we were both pretty worn out with one thing and another, so we walked along the Yarra River & through the Alexandra Gardens for about half an hour & then came back to the hotel. We're planning to just stay in, in hopes of being in fine fettle tomorrow. Steve would like to do the aquarium (This Time For Sure), and I'd like to do the Melbourne Museum, and look more at Lygon St., and see the botanic gardens. Not sure how it will shake down. Wednesday, we are day-tripping into the Yarra Valley wine country, and that's our last day in the region: Thursday begins my driving adventures. --I better make sure we can get lodgings in Parkes. My faith has been shaken more than somewhat.

Haven't bought postcards yet. I probably should have, and then could have spent the evening in correspondence. Oh well.

Comments

[damned-colonial.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad you discovered the laneways, otherwise I would've had to explain them to you.

You're right that the CBD can be a bit echoey outside business hours, except for within 1 block of Swanston St. Most of the weekend action happens in the ring of the "inner suburbs", the cool bits of which are designated by street. Lygon St you already know, but also check out Brunswick St, Smith St, Victoria St, Bridge Rd, Chapel St, Acland St. All these are within about 2 miles of the CBD and an easy tram ride, and each has its own character and is well worth visiting.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

I believe the fellow at the restaurant today was actually correct about health regulations: they're not supposed to give you your leftovers to take away, but almost everyone ignores the rule.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

Hi. My name is Leah and I'll be your deaf radio guide this evening.

That being said, you might want to try Triple J (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej) on 107.5FM, RRR (http://www.rrr.org.au) at 102.7FM or PBS FM (http://www.pbsfm.org.au) at 106.7 if you want to listen to something that doesn't encourage Australian Idol judges in their radio careers...

[rainbear.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're having quite an adventure right now! :) Is there a place that maybe Steve can go and get some Nexium to cover the trip? Sometimes local clinics and such take pity on tourists...

I hope your trip continues to get better and better! :) Take piccies! :)

[sweh.livejournal.com]

Or if he can't get Nexium, maybe some OTC drug (equivalent of Zantac) might at least keep the symptoms to a manageable level. Maybe!

[rainbear.livejournal.com]

*nodnod*

A friend of mine (a doctor) had been traveling abroad (I forget where, tho. Maybe it was Australia? I dunno). She had to see a doctor while there, but it was a country with nationalized healthcare--the doctor felt horrible charging her money, and a few months after she got home, she got a money order from the doctor, saying he'd found a "visitor exception" law that said he didn't have to charge for travelers from other countries for emergency treatment.

The amount? Something like $5 or $10 US.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

You can in fact buy Zantac here, under that brand name even. No prescription required, any pharmacy will sell it to you.

I know there's definitely a pharmacy on Collins St a little west of where they're staying. After William but before King, I think, on the north side.

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

Ensued then our first Melburnian tram adventure, which involved a certain amount of comedy because I failed to ascertain exactly how one purchases a ticket.

I had one of those too, in my overseas adventure. Except that, instead of buying too few tickets due to failure to understand the system, I bought too many. (Also, it's possible that there might have been enlightening signage, but I couldn't read it.)

And in the whole time I was there I never saw anyone check tickets; with the proof-of-payment systems in SF, there was a check at least every two or three rides, it seemed.

Anything with the least bit of quirk or funk he screws up his face in the "are you seriously thinking of wearing that?" way. And yet he professes to like punk. I ask you--!

Well, he does work for a bank....

[fivetonsflax.livejournal.com]

Hey, ...

[missionista.livejournal.com]

The Nick Cave show sounds great!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, and if you do end up in Healsville while in the Yarra Valley there is a great place for lunch on the main street it is a cafe run by a winery, it's called Giant Steps.

Say hi to Florence the Wombat for me at the sanctuary :).

Kathryn