We slept in a little this morning and then went to the Diamond lounge for Brekkie. It was actually quite good. The weather was good so we decided to go walk around the city for a while. The Hilton we are in is next to a park. We walked along the edge of the park down to the shopping and business district. We strolled along peeking in the shops but we weren't really in the mood for shopping. The highlight was an Opal museum and shop that was the most unique store I had ever been in. 95% of the world’s opals come from Australia so opal jewelry is pretty prevalent. I have actually purchased a couple of pieces already.

Melbourne is a very eclectic city. You can see Asian, European and Greek influence in the architecture. We are amazed at how quiet and clean the Australian City’s are. There is no trash and no blaring horns and everyone is considerate and mindful of lights and traffic and pedestrians. The city was busy with workers and tourists but everyone seems to get along. The best part is that there are no panhandlers.

We found our way to the riverfront and walked along looking for a good restaurant to have lunch. We found a beautiful open-air place appropriately named The Waterfront. Eric had paella and I had a delicious pot of mussels. We sat sipping our drinks, relaxing and watching all the people walk by. It was a fantastic way to spend an hour.

After lunch we wandered through a park that was busy with people setting up for Moomba Festival. We unfortunately are going to miss it as it starts tomorrow and we are flying back to Sydney tomorrow. Moomba is an annual fair held in Melbourne. It is huge. There were Carnival games, rides, music stages, markets and a water-skiing competition all being prepared for the two week long party.

We found our way to Olympic Park which was built for the 1956 Summer Olympics. Not much was going on here today so we just walked through on our back to our hotel. We were wishing that the cricket final was her tonight but it is in Adelaide.

We found ourselves back at the Hilton just before the afternoon rains hit. We turned on the Cricket match and opened a bottle of bubbly. We played dominoes and relaxed for a few hours. We went up to the lounge for dinner and watched more of the cricket match and met a few people. It was a fun day. I wish I could take this Hilton with me everywhere I go. This is one of the best hotels we have stayed in in a very long time.