Australia Trip, Part 3

When I left off, we were boating on the Yarra River. After that, we went for a stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens, stopping to smell the roses and such.








We ended up at the Shrine of Remembrance. I wouldn't have thought to go to this if we hadn't stumbled onto it. Inside, they had some exhibits of medals and gear from different conflicts, and then a very nice gentleman basically gave us our own private tour of the complex, guiding us to the Sanctuary just in time for a Service of Remembrance.












Feeling contemplative, we set off back toward the central business district. And then a little absurdity, thanks to an (I think unrelated) bit of gardening splendor:




After this, we took the Metro to Lygon Street, Melbourne's Little Italy. We wandered up and down the street a bit while waiting for K's excellent recommendation of Papa Gino's, where we had pizza.  I split a Capricciosa with C, and K had a Campania, and I am now obsessed with potatoes on pizza. Really! Afterward, we hit a gelato shop (I can't remember what I had there, but I tried to consume as much mango anything as I could the whole trip, so that's a good guess).

Anyway, after giving us a basketload of her time for a couple of days, K went off to the countryside, and C and I back to our hotel. I think we made tea with a kettle and did a little reading and probably a bit of drip-dry laundry. Australian hotels and flights are the opposite of American: the coffee is terrible granules, but the tea selection is excellent. Even with the caffeine shot, I was still really muzzy and a sleep mess, and I'm sure I was asleep before 9 p.m.






But that was okay, because the next day was our first formal tour, with penguins.