24 Melbourne (2nd time) - Day 1

We left Tasmania this morning. We both like our stay in Tasmania. Though the scenery is not very particular, it is green everywhere and very peaceful. Picture this ... wide valleys, mountains in the distance, green pastures on rolling hills in between, an occasional gum tree in the middle of the pastures, and cattle lazing around .. together they turn the countryside into a pretty and relaxing picture.  And the people are very friendly, laid back and relaxed. As we mentioned before, the food is good and the air is fresh!  It is difficult to put your finger on any one thing, but together they just become an irresistible package that grows on you!

Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles
The flight back was uneventful, and the drive into Melbourne was less stressful than last time since we did not have a deadline. We checked into the hotel and met up with the couple from Canada. It turned out the city is having the White Night festival on the weekend.  It is an all night arts festival and is similar to Nuit Blanche in Toronto.  Some streets are closed for pedestrians only starting from 5pm until 7am the following morning. We went to the Federation Square and checked out the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. Then we headed over to NGV International to see the Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei show. The Forever Bicycles installation located in the foyer is quite interesting.









The permanent exhibition has artifacts from all over the world. They may not be the best items, but the exhibits were laid out by year and by country, Aztec, Egyptian, ... The part I liked is, in addition to the English description, they also have the explanation in the language of the country of origin.


Chinese New Year celebration?
Crowd outside Flinders St Railway Station







After dinner at a dumplings place, we went back to Flinders Square. I had never seen so many people gather in one place! Since we did not know what will happen when, we decided we were too old for the actions. So we walked in the direction of our hotel and checked out musicians and performers along the way. It was around 10pm by now, and there were fewer children and more young adults; and quite a few ladies dressed to the nines for the big parties.


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