Day 23

Today we went to the National Gallery of Victoria here in Melbourne.  This was a very large and beautiful museum that housed many works from around the world.  I particularly enjoyed seeing all of the old European paintings that were housed here in Melbourne.  There was also a really cool modern piece that featured a ladder made out of rope lights in a dark room with two mirrors at each end of the ladder.  This made the illusion that the ladder was curving around into what appeared to be infinity. 

The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can see the illusion of the curve

A really large and old rug

After the museum we ventured towards the beach.  The beach was located in St. Kilda, which is just outside of Melbourne.  When we arrived I was immediately mesmerized by all of the kite boarders that were out.  It was a very windy day and they were everywhere.  This wasn’t the type of beach that you went and sun bathed on because it was kind of rocky with rough surf and a lot of wind. 

They're everywhere!

Our group managed to find a restaurant that had $5 pizza until 5:00 p.m.  Naturally, we all took advantage of this killer deal.  The peperoni pizza that we had was amazing.  I’ve noticed that at every restaurant I’ve been to here in Australia they take pride in the quality of their food.  I think this has to do with the fact that there are career chefs that cook in small casual restaurants.  With the minimum wage being about 2.5 times what it is back in the states one can make an honest living cooking in these casual restaurants.  With that being said, they are proud of the food that they produce.  Maybe that’s another reason why it’s so expensive here. 

Classic, simple, and delicious

We made it back to our accommodations and decided to put in a movie.  We had rented a documentary on Antarctica earlier in the week because it looked really interesting.  It was so interesting that I fell asleep about half way through it and woke up 2 hours later.  Afternoon movies on a big leather couch with all of the lights off make for an awesome nap.  I spent the remainder of the night doing laundry and hanging out with friends before getting to bed at a somewhat decent hour.  Our time in Melbourne is coming to an end and I am looking forward to going to New Zealand on Saturday!  Until next time, cheers!