As I prepared to begin blogging today, I realized I had a small group of pictures from our visit to the Koorie Heritage Centre, another interesting building in a great new civic space called Federation Square, near the venerable railway station and close to the Yarra River which Steve and I have enjoyed during our Melbourne days. The Koorie Centre has space for temporary exhibitions of work by local indigenous artists as well as a place for indigenous elders and experts on traditional crafts. We were a bit disappointed that we had missed the most recent exhibition, but Steve and I both like the gift shop. Steve liked it a lot!

There were several interesting works of art on display at the centre that I thought you might want to see.

Sorry I missed these in the previous blog. I hesitate to call it “yesterday’s blog,” because we crossed the International Date Line again today and I’m not really sure how to measure the past few days, let alone sync my watch, android phone, and fitbit app.

So, this edition will speak of ACCA, MRC, Koorie, and of course, Australia’s royal family. On another beautiful morning in Melbourne, a fully recovered Steve and I decided we would visit the Australian Center for Contemporary Art (or ACCA). This had proved to be a tough place to get to and find open for various reasons but, at last we made it! It is housed in an interesting building.

This is how ACCA describes its current exhibition: “Data Relations brings together artist-led projects that lyrically wrestle with some of the key issues and challenges of our contemporary data-driven society. The exhibition includes major new commissions and site-specific installations by Australian and international artists and collectives who critically and speculatively engage with the ways in which the data economy and related technological developments manifest in inter-personal and wider social relationships.”

This is how I describe it— it blew my mind! Looking at these installations through my perspective of how the digital world has grown from infancy during the beginning of my professional career to where it is the subject of philosophical musings that covered topics including surrogacy, how data is being misused, using data as a memorialization of people whose lives are disappeared or destroyed by totalitarian regimes, to data retraining our ways of using words and feelings. I had a few moments to discuss my reactions with one of the young staff members who seemed genuinely interested and excited at my reaction to the exhibition.

On our way back toward the Central Business District (CBD) we noticed several interesting buildings (yes that greenish thing in the middle of the center photo is a building), see below. I particularly liked the Melbourne Recital Center and a couple of skyscrapers that were in the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Our next stop was at the edge of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. We had noticed a lovely floral clock on our way out to the ACCA and wanted to get a picture of it on our way back. I noticed a statue behind the clock, of and we soon found that it was King George VI, the son of Queen Victoria.

Below, a small island in the garden, a folly, and some roses.

And finally, for this session, this interesting piece of public sculpture called the Genie. It reminded me of my dear friend Jeanne Green. Melbourne, like every city we have visited in this wonderful country has a wealth of public art in its streets, plazas and public gardens. I have one or two more posts to do, but it is now time to close for today.

As we continued our unsuccessful battles with our rotten, no-good host over the non-working A/C, a day out seemed a good idea. Melbourne, like London, is a great city for walking about and exploring. After wandering down a few small streets and byways, I found myself across from Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral.

By now, you know me and a good cathedral, so in I went. Needless to say, it is a lovely place, and I enjoyed my visit. I do regret not taking a picture of the full immersion baptismal pool at the back of the church. This looked like “the real deal, at first glance, I thought it might have been the top of a stairway to a crypt or something. Getting closer, I realized, it was, indeed a baptismal (or christening) pool. Below are a few pictures I did take.

Above, two traditional and one modern stained-glass windows, plus a look at the lovely floor tiles in the cathedral.

What better way to balance the day than a quick tram ride to the Australian Sports Museum, located at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The approach to the grounds and museum is through lovely, landscaped grounds, including this tree canopied walkway.

The museum is surrounded by statues of Australian sports heroes.

Above are two exhibits and photos typical in the museum. It also contains plenty of interactive games for “kids” of all ages. Like most of the museums I have been to in Australia, this one definitely caters to young folks and would be the kind of place that children would want to return to.

These three photos represent, for me, the whimsical side of the museum and made the visit fun, as well as educational. The little cricket figure on the right will be remembered because just after I took his picture, a little girl with blonde curls was so excited to see him she ran up and hugged him–Another magic Aussie moment for me,

As we drove into the city and got into downtown traffic, the first thought that struck me was, ‘ok, this is a BIG city.’ It reminded me of Chicago. The beautiful old buildings next to stunning new buildings just had that feel. Then we saw the trams, beautiful modern, noisy trams. There were so many people in the streets. I knew I was going to like this place. Then we got to our flat. I have to say it folks. I am not blaming VRBO, but there is a certain lemony taste in my mouth about this one. Steve and I are having a battle of wills with the “host” right now over whether or not the air conditioner works. His agent who did not meet us but had visited the apartment before we arrived and left the balcony door open claims the A/C was working. (We assume that was because the little yellow button on the old-fashioned thermostat was on, rather than the red button for the heat. They did not respond to our phone calls and messages until late this afternoon when they asked us to send a video demonstrating that the A/C was not working. Don’t worry, no video of my fat self, sweating like a porker was sent. We responded that, while that little yellow lite shone, no air was coming out of the vents in the ceiling. Time will tell what happens next.

My first solo excursion was a trip on the Melbourne tram system up to the Queen Victoria Markets. If you have been to any of the big old markets in London, this was like two or three of them together on steroids. It had a fish market, a meat market, and little shops that were bakeries, Italian, Greek, Polish and other nationality delicatessens, wine shops, spirits shops, spice stalls and more. This was in the enclosed building. Then there were outside stalls, food trucks and vendors under tents with souvenirs, art, hats, tee shirts, the works! What a fun and interesting first morning this was.

Above, just a couple of glimpses inside the market hall. The Market was the last stop in the “free zone” on the tram system, by the way. You can basically ride for free around the Central Business District or CBD on the trams for no charge every day. There is an easy downloadable app. so you can “tap in” if you are going outside the zone to pay for those rides. It is a great system.

Steve and I met up “on the waterfront” in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon, and the Southgate section of the Waterfront was hopping. It is just across one of the several bridges that cross the river. The one I crossed is a modern beauty that is behind the beautiful Victorian landmark, the Flinders Street Railway Station.

That’s the station, going all the way down Flinders Street! In the middle of the block, just before that distant clock tower, there is a passageway that takes you to the back of the station and to the pedestrian bridge across the river.

Folks walking over the pedestrian bridge toward Southgate and a quirky piece of public art waiting to greet them on the other side.

Two views of the riverfront and the beautiful skyline of Melbourne that we admired on our first full day in this incredible city filled with culture, commerce, sport and wonderful Aussie spirit. Note that I am having data issues, so I am going to try to get this published tonight, fingers crossed. More Melbourne adventures await.