{"id":1288,"date":"2011-02-05T22:06:11","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T15:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/?p=1288"},"modified":"2011-02-05T22:06:11","modified_gmt":"2011-02-05T15:06:11","slug":"melbourne-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/2011\/02\/05\/melbourne-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne, Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Federation<\/a><\/p>\n

Total Miles Traveled:<\/strong> 55,900<\/p>\n

Melbourne is listed as one of the most livable cities in the world and we could see why. \u00a0It’s got a little bit of everything: urban sophistication, a cafe\/coffee culture, lively restaurant and bar scene, sports culture (Aussie-rules football originated here), stunning nearby beaches, wine regions, and an ethnically diverse population (they even have real mafia wars! No joke!).<\/p>\n

I’d been to Melbourne 5 years ago for my friend Jinah’s wedding. \u00a0When we visited this time, she had 3 kids under the age of 5 running around the house. \u00a0Quite a change from when we were in b-school!<\/p>\n

Anyway, here are some scenes from the city which has a very compact city center. \u00a0This is a view down Flinders Street next to Federation Square (also pictured above), which has very interesting architecture. \u00a0For example, the ground isn’t flat – it has many angles and slopes, like the building you see below.<\/p>\n

\"Federation<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s a nice riverfront area with parks, bars, and cafes – all very walkable.<\/p>\n

\"Melbourne,<\/a><\/p>\n

The city also tolerates (encourages?) graffiti art. \u00a0There’s even a map at the tourist center that shows you where to go see the best graffiti! \u00a0Here’s Union Lane in the CBD (central business district).<\/p>\n

\"Graffiti<\/a><\/p>\n

Chinatown is also an attraction, though I’m not sure why. \u00a0It’s much like Boston’s, only 2-3 blocks.<\/p>\n

\"Chinatown,<\/a><\/p>\n

The Chinese tourists find Chinatown to be fascinating:<\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahh, there we go – this is why Chinatown is interesting… there’s a restaurant named after Lisa’s family – the Westlake restaurant!<\/p>\n

\"Westlake<\/a><\/p>\n

Then we headed out to St. Kilda, a nearby suburb on the beach. \u00a0Here’s the sunset at the beach:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, on our final days in Melbourne, we made it out to the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne, where there are a lot of cool-climate wines being made – think Oregon or Washington State. \u00a0 Worth a visit if you have some extra time in Melbourne. \u00a0Thanks, Jinah, for providing us with a place to crash!<\/p>\n

\"20110211-P1040252\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cool photo of the peninsula:<\/p>\n

\"20110212-P1040258\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up, we visit the Great Ocean Road, southwest of Melbourne, which is a bit like the California coastline. \u00a0Here is a slideshow of our photos in Melbourne:<\/p>\n

[flickrslideshow acct_name=”tony-chen” id=”72157625892698461″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Total Miles Traveled: 55,900 Melbourne is listed as one of the most livable cities in the world and we could see why. \u00a0It’s got a little bit of everything: urban sophistication, a cafe\/coffee culture, lively restaurant and bar scene, sports culture (Aussie-rules football originated here), stunning nearby beaches, wine regions, and an ethnically diverse population […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1288"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}