My AUSome Trip

“I love this city!”
“How cool is this city!”
“This is an amazing city!”
“Did I mention I LOVE Melbourne!!!”
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Today, I went out for coffee with my friend-a very Melbournian thing to do-and as we were walking around, I didn’t stop pointing out how smart Melbourne is. I know that might sound like a weird adjective for a city, but there is this great energy about the people and the place that compel me to call it smart. Let me try to explain. For one thing, the general fashion of the people in the CBD is ‘smart’ hitting the spot just between professional and hipster, a delicate balance, if you ask me.

Then there’s the architecture, which I’ve blogged about before, but still impresses me everytime. It’s as if the architects and designers said, “Right angles make me feel boxed in, (pun intended!) and also ‘concrete’ is not a color! Let’s make isosceles triangles and mix and matched colors everywhere!”
(Also, this is another sneaky way of showing you how expansive the sky is here- and yes, I still notice it every time I go outside.)

That’s not all. There have been a few storefront signs that have caught my attention and just made me smile. There is a clothing store named “Boo Radley” which implies a well-read store namer. (Extra points to the first reader who comments with the book!) There’s also a barbershop called Edward Scissorhands. I don’t know exactly why this points me in the direction of a certain savvy-ness, but it does create a certain vibe.

But by far, my favorite (and not coincidentally, most anticipated) location in Melbourne is Federation Square! Your go to meeting place in the city! Not only is it home to ACMI,(coolest museum ever!) it also has street performers all the time and plenty of seaguls that want to eat your snacks.

If you were anywhere near Fed Square this week, you surely would have noticed the COOOOOLEST (yes, that’s an official blogging term) art sculpture/exhibit/thingy EVER!  TapeMelboure
It is made entirely out of packing tape, took a week to put together, and is free to climb into and test the weight of regular old sticky tape. Tell me this isn’t awesome and…SMART! What a cool way to involve people in the open space that is Fed Square and to get people talking and enjoying ART, especially kids-and you know how I feel about kids enjoying wholesome activities, such as climbing into spiderman-made tunnels! (And by kids, I of course mean me!)

So in case you were wondering, I think Melbourne is AMAZING, SPECTACULAR and PHENOMENAL. Not that New York isn’t cool or anything. Times Square’s got some street cred around town, but let’s not forget about the square in the MOST LIVABLE CITY IN THE WORLD!

Oh, and if you’re hanging in Fed Square, you get a glorious view of Flinder’s St. Station plus the giant screen!

Cheers!
Lilach