Melbourne, Australia

What a beautiful city! I had forgotten how much I love this place. The streets are clean and open, there is a beautiful riverfront area, gorgeous buildings, great food, music and coffee. Jane and I made our way into town on tram 109 - it was really nice to know my way around and be familiar with how the port works, so I felt comfortable and confident getting in and out of town.

Once in town we had a wander around what's known as the CBD (central business district), the U.S. Equivalent would be maybe downtown or city center. All the Aussie and Kiwi cities refer to it as the CBD. We hit some shops that interested us, and I revisited the awesome coffee shop my old buddy Nick from the Rhapsody had showed us. It was really nice to see everything again, and instead of wanting to see new things, I found myself drawn to those places and sights which were familiar to me and held pleasant memories.

For lunch I decided to go on a mission to find a good vegetarian place, as it really is that kind of town. Jane was game to check one out with me, but it turned out most places in the CBD were closed due to it being a Sunday. Finally the barista at Brother Baba Budan (awesome coffee shop) told me that there was a "wicked" place called the Vegie Bar on Brunswick Street if we had access to public trans and could get a ways out of town. Luckily our tram tickets were "Sunday Savers", good all day. So we ventured out there and succesfully found it eventually, despite missing several trains while looking desperately for a pit stop for Jane. The Vegie Bar was a really big place, full of very bohemian and hipster types, mostly 20's and 30's I'd guess. It was packed, and for good reason - the food was incredible. What a find! Best meal I've had in a while. The whole street and area around the restaurant looked really neat, we wished we had time to explore it. Jane had to rush back to print, so I helped her find the right tram, then made my own way back a bit more slowly, extending my day in the city as long as possible. I sat on a boardwalk near the ship, drinking an orange juice and soaking in my last 20 minutes ashore.
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