actual melbourne.

so, while our primary reason for going to melbourne was to ski, we didn't want to pass up the chance to see what melbourne the city had to offer.  so, while the others stayed back to ski another day, we took a bus into the city for our chance to have one day of site seeing.

melbourne is such a cool city!

first, we went to the eureka sky deck to see the city from it's highest point and from the tallest point in the southern hemisphere.  it was so great because we got to figure out what we wanted to see up close and what we were okay with seeing from far away.

{this is the view from the street looking up at the sky deck}

{ladies and gentleman, let us present you the city of melbourne...}

{... and here is sarah showing all the venues for the 1956 summer olympic games... }

{... and jim, again, presenting his excitement over a golf course in the middle of this wonderful city!}

{federation square}

federation square was really close to the eureka tower so we immediately headed over there.  how do i describe this? federation square is basically an artsy center with cafes and pop culture museums.  it's really just something to see.

all those little slots in this building had little digital messages running through them.

then we headed inside to check out one of the museums and the entire building had these strands running through it that looked like large ribbon.  jim soon noticed that it was those tie down ratchet strap thing-a-ma-bobs.  kinda cool...

oh... and the museum was kind of cool.  it was free, which was nice, and had some cool stuff.  i would say we weren't jumping out of our pants excited, but it killed 30 minutes or so. 

anyway, as we were leaving federation square, we noticed an information center for tourists.  so we popped in to see if they had any suggestions for our one day melbourne'ian adventure.  

first, they sent us down to graffiti alley.  i've never seen anything like it.  here are some photos....

isn't it crazy?  and people actually work in this alley; there were offices and cafes.  you would think it would be scary, but just the opposite.  

then we started a walking tour that the information desk gave us.  it wasn't at all what i expected, but in a good way.  

we went through alley after alley of shops and restaurants.  it was so neat and charming!

{we even tried our first macaroon (not the kind with coconut you are thinking)... delish!}

we ended the day with a little time at the casino in the crown plaza, which is something to see in itself.  this hotel is HUGE!!

and i will leave you with yet another incredibly photogenic photo of jim.  love it.