on melbourne

I have inexplicably mixed feelings about Melbourne. I thought I would love, love, love this city, and while I like it...it's not as I anticipated.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell if it's Australia, or if it's Melbourne; that will have to wait until I have spent some time in Sydney. But it's also possible that coming straight from New Zealand, which I absolutely and utterly adored, colors things. It's also possible that I just don't do as well in a city that is still very hot, and that is getting progressively more crowded with the approach of Grand Prix - today it is stifling with people, and it makes me glad I am leaving.

Melbourne is pretty awesome - the aforementioned bakeries and public art, the really accessible and charming tram system of public transport. The shopping is world class, and the restaurant selection and quality reminds me of San Francisco.

Normally, when I am in one of these awesome places in the world, I love to fantasize about living there. Sometimes it's a vacation home, like in Costa Rica or Ashland. Sometimes I feel like I could live there, like with Edinburgh or, most recently Christchurch. Mostly it's idle fantasy, but I do it almost everywhere, and I don't find myself constructing a fantasy around Melbourne.

I wonder if it doesn't feel different enough for me, and that is why? Thanks to my sister, who got it down pat really quickly and passed it along to me, I have the tram system pretty well in hand - I never have to ask the drivers for route info, like I see lots of Melburnians, even, doing. I went today to University of Melbourne. It was just starting term, and the signs were all so familiar - a big poster sale in the quad, this week only; join this government or that union; first meeting of this club is on Tuesday. The campus is really nice, with lots of food options and libraries and grassy spaces, but I felt like I was at San Jose State - the two have the same urban/campus feel.

I can't really articulate how it relates, but somehow this sort of shows haw familiarity with the city, and it's familiarness to me already, makes me LIKE the city, but not love it. I wonder, too, how it will influence Sydney - I have had a couple of people tell me recently that Sydney is "just a city," that you can't really tell if you are in Australia or any number of cosmopolitan cities around the world. I can't tell if that will make me like it more or less, but we will see.

First, though, I go north. Tomorrow I head to the reef for a few days. It's weird to think that I need a vacation, but deciding what to do each day, from museum visits down to when to eat, sleep, shower, sit, everything, is pretty exhausting. I am going to try to turn my mind off a bit, and just read, snorkel, laze in a hammock, and hopefully enjoy a blended beverage. I will also, finally, get some beach time in. Can't wait!