A Tale Of Two Cities

From Melbourne '06

After a week in Melbourne, I was still a bit confounded by the city. It seemed to have a bit of a split personality with each being so opposite the other that I didn’t really see how or why the two coexisted.

On one hand, Melbourne seemed like a cut and dry business oriented city. I sensed a definite no-nonsense, by-the-book, yet almost blue collar sensibility. That sense seemed reinforced by the tight, orderly layout of the city and the prevalent stately (if not sometimes staid) architecture around the CBD (central business district).

On the other hand, the most recently developed areas along the city’s shore line just outside the CBD portrayed an artistic mentality skewed a bit toward the avant garde. The architectural direction of the new construction embraced ultra modern design to sometimes radical proportions.

But, I struggled to understand the dichotomy as the two halves seemed to be clearly separate from each other with few, if any, instances where the two intertwined or even tried to do so. Nonetheless, it did make for some interesting exploring as I never knew what I was going to find around the corner. While I
never fully warmed up to Melbourne perhaps because Melbourne never quite warmed up while I was there - I did come to appreciate to some degree the city’s multiple personalities.

The older CBD area maintains some unique features from its decades old design and construction. In the center of town is a busy pedestrian plaza, Bourke St., that’s lined with the standard retail shops, food outlets and street performers. Like any city, it was especially busy during the holiday season with last minute shoppers and people enjoying some time off. Just off Bourke St. was a series of classic 19th century shopping arcades that branched out in all directions like catacombs. South of the arcades and just a block outside of the official CBD was Melbourne’s showpiece of ultra modern design, the oddly named Federation Square. The complex is a series of four buildings that seem inspired by Salvador Dali with angled outlines of buildings, abstract coverings, irregularly shaped doorways and unique uses of modern materials throughout. Much like my impression of Melbourne, Federation Square is difficult to define, yet oddly intriguing.

To give my brain a rest from the confusing stylings of the city’s concrete structures, I found refuge in a number of the city’s excellent parks. Unfortunately, many showed ill effects of the devastating drought that is gripping the country, and the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is located) in particular. I arrived at a time when nearby bush fires that threatened the city for weeks due to the extremely dry conditions had temporarily subsided and the smoke had cleared from the city (although the fires and the smoke returned just a few weeks later). Many of what I’m sure were formerly pleasantly green parks now had sections fully dried out due to tough water restrictions imposed as the country’s water reserves sunk to below 40% due to the lack of rain. But, the Royal Botanical Gardens seemed to be exempt from the water restrictions (something I wasn’t sure to be comfortable with or not). But, I’m sure even when water is plentiful, that the botanic gardens stand out among the rest. It’s choc full of leafy green trees and bushes, manicured gardens, and attractive walking trails that circle the lakes and ponds found throughout.

But, I think the clue to Melbourne’s true personality lies in its passion for sports, an experience I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to indulge in while I was there. Melbourne hosts international competitions like the Australian Open and a Formula One Grand Prix race. But, while I was there cricket was the game captivating the city, and the nation. Evidently every two years or so, England makes a trip to Australia to subject itself to a series of cricket matches called The Ashes with the Melbourne leg taking place while I was in town. So anyone not immersed in post-Christmas sales was engrossed by the marathon cricket match.

Perhaps the rest of the world feels the same way when they visit the U.S. during football season, but despite actively trying to watch and understand cricket, I remain at a loss to remotely comprehend the game. Actually, a weeks worth of cricket matches on the ‘telly’ provided the grounds for a potentially erroneous assumption that it’s something about hurling a ball at a batter who tries to hit it between the fielders or out of the stadium while running bases to score runs. So, it’s baseball…where you can score 250 runs (mostly because games last something like a week each). Not entirely, but it does seem to share some very loose similarities. Although I have yet to figure out how the scoring works which seems to be the critical clue to grasping and enjoying the sport. I could, however, appreciate the enthusiasm that engulfed the city during the match.

Like Melbourne’s seemingly split personality, I spent most of my time exploring the city in two opposing states of mind. I alternated between utter enjoyment and being utterly perplexed. The best parts of Melbourne are truly intriguing and memorable while other parts are downright mind boggling. But, much like understanding the game of cricket, I think Melbourne takes more time, effort and examination to truly understand what’s going on. But, that will require a return visit one day…and box seats.

MELBOURNE PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/gscottie/Melbourne06