Yesterday was the last day of yet another class. With the day off today, we headed into the city -- and we got there for free!!!! The hotel sends shuttles to the local Unis, one to ours and one to Melbourne University. The campus in Melbourne is only a few blocks away from the train station, so from now on any weekday we want to get into the city we can for free!!!

We headed down by the river to visit some of the parks. We went back to Federation Square where they were holding some event, and peaked into one of the museums. After we went to walk the parks. We started with the Alexandra Gardens which had a beautiful view of the water, and took the path right through to the Royal Botanic Gardens. These were the highlight of all of the gardens we went to. It was a never-ending maze though the garden. This included a walk down the Japanese Gardens, the Bamboo Forest, into Fern Gully, the Children's Garden and others. After walking through most of the huge greenery, we found ourselves face to face with the Shrine of Remembrance.

It was an amazing building in honor of Anzac soldiers. The Shrine consisted of numerous statues and memorials, tons of Australian flags, Medals of Honor, small exhibits on different wars (the main exhibit being on World War I) and an eternal flame. A highlight of the Shrine happened to be the balcony. We had an amazing view of the entire city from one side of the building, and a view of the Shrine gardens from another.

Next, we headed back towards town through some of the other gardens. We walked along King's Domain, but didn't visit the gardens, and then went to Queen Victoria Gardens. We didn't walk through Queen Victoria Gardens, but we did make sure to go see the floral clock they have. At this point we were beginning to get a bit tired (I suggest you google map the area just to see how much land we covered) and stopped for a snack.

We walked to the Greek Precinct to check out some of the restaurants. It is only one block, but it is filled with Greek culture. Fun fact: outside of Greece, Melbourne has the largest Greek population in the world (so says Mary Beth). We decided to eat elsewhere, and then headed to the Melbourne City Library. It was awesome. We came too late at night, but they hold exciting exhibits there daily, so I think we'll be heading back. We did, however, get to check out one of their galleries and then stop to "play" a game of chess. Then we caught the shuttle back to Preston.

This evening we went down the street to a local quiz night! We actually held our own. We came in 4th place. There were only 5 places, but there were some 8 teams. Haha. The highlight was an impersonation contest which Ara won with a great Kermit the Frog act. We've already signed up for next week -- and when we come back we won't settle for anything less than 3rd place. We want a prize!

Tomorrow we are heading back to the city to check out more of the area. So far the plans are to visit another garden so we can go to Cook's Cottage. Everybody cross your fingers for good weather for tomorrow!