Strolling in Melbourne

Walking through  towns streets is for me the best way to get the feel of any place. I had an opportunity to get to know a little bit of Melbourne that way. It was a very attractive little bit.

What made the biggest impression on me? Perhaps the graffiti lane. Provocative and artistic. Shabby, dirty place covered by street art and messages for the passers by. We all need to share what is important to us or even things that are not particularly important. Talented people create their art that stays with us sometimes for ages. This is sharing of the highest rank. This does not mean that the rest of us can not find other, more pedestrian ways. Bloggers, including me, do it by writing their thoughts and observations. Creators of graffiti do it by painting and when this is not enough they add a written comment. Such is the Melbourne lane. One can walk and ponder.

Then, my Parisian associations made me notice The Prince’s Bridge in a particular way. To me the bridge is similar to The Pont Alexander III. Both are ornate and extravagant bridges build in about the same time, at the end of the XIX century. I was surprised to find out that the Melbourne bridge was erected earlier than its Parisian, more splendid sibling. Both bridges are named after rulers of a foreign country. The Princes Bridge is named after Edward, Prince of Wales who became King of England, Edward VII and the Parisian bridge is named after Tsar Alexander III of Russia.

           

Paris

Melbourne

My French associations continued as The Princes Bridge leads to The Art Centre that looks very much like the Eiffel Tower to me. Since my time in Paris was a very happy one, opening my eyes to so many new things, thoughts and emotions, I liked Melbourne even more for triggering off such memories.

                                       

My very favourite bridges are Pont Neuf in Paris and The Sydney Harbour Bridge. But this is another story perhaps.

Memories are perhaps a function of age or an eventful, busy life. It happens more and more frequently that I notice things taking me back some years. Like this billboard.

In my banking and IT past I worked on banks integration, IT systems integration. Two fantastic projects: Challenge Bank and Bank of Melbourne integrations with Westpac. The best projects I worked on, managed to perfect precision, like if we were to send a rocket to the moon. Daily checkpoints, scrubbing sub projects to ensure error free implementation. Coordination between sub projects had to be spotless. They were very competitive projects but I remember them also for a great camaraderie of the top management team. I loved the adrenaline rush and sense of achievement that the projects brought together with later aftermath of negative health impact. But this is perhaps another story to tell some time.  Anyhow, when I saw the Bank of Melbourne sign, my heart jumped a bit.

The modern architecture does not make such a big impression on me as the old one but there are exceptions like this one. I like it.

I also liked trees dressed in sweaters. Is it so much colder in Melbourne than in Sydney? I have knitted few things in my life but never directly on a model. I wonder how it was done and would have liked to see it.

I am sure that there a few more things to see in Melbourne, like more of the Botanical Gardens than I had already seen and things I even do not know exist. Looks like I may make another trip there one day.