On our second day in Melbourne we had to go back to the Eureka 89 Restaurant as I had forgotten my wallet the night prior. The meal was pre-paid, but the bottle of wine we bought was not. At least we didn’t have to wash dishes! They were nice enough to let us back into the viewing area for our troubles, before it opened to the general public. I’m not entirely sure what the deal is with this building and what appears to be “the patios of death”.
Bottom line, go up to the viewpoint if you come to Melbourne, the views are amazing! That’s the train station in the foreground, along the edge of the Yarra River. We actually took a train from there later that night.
Here is the sports complex that we had a night shot of in the prior post. Melbourne really has an impressive number of green spaces!
We visited the National Gallery (free to enter) hoping to discover some decent art, but were first met with this modern art from a “famous” Japanese artist. Ok, whatever.
More of her “famous” artwork. This is supposed to be a pumpkin? Not sure on what planet. All along I thought psychedelic drugs were illegal in Japan. Who knew!
We spent at least 90 minutes walking around and were ready to leave until we finally stumbled across some real artwork! This triptych totally reminds me The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch that we saw back in Madrid in 2018. It was created a year later by three little known Belgian artists working together, but they definitely got their inspiration from Bosch.
This piece looks like a Rembrandt, and is indeed a portrait of Rembrandt, but it’s been declared to be an unknown artist working in the style of Rembrandt. Whatever, looks like Rembrandt to me!
This next painting is by Jan Brueghel called “Calvary”, from 1610. This Flemish painter from the famous Brueghel family was known for painting oil onto copper plates. It really makes the colors pop! This would make a great puzzle!
This next piece is by a little known artist named Pablo Picasso. This is “Weeping Woman” from 1937. I can’t believe it took us 90 minutes to find this section of the gallery!
Next was our favorite Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch (of “The Scream” fame), called “Early Spring” and painted in 1903-1905.
Bear with me, almost done with the paintings. The next one is by Camille Pissarro, called “Boulevard Montmarte, Morning, Cloudy Weather”, painted in 1897. Pissarro lived in Montmarte for a period of time and painted the view from his apartment 14 times. I think the guy needed to get out a little more! Join the crowd for once!
Yet another Pissarro painting just because it’s excellent. His titles are quite long. This is “The Banks of the Viosne at Osny in Grey Weather, Winter”, painted in 1883. Long title or not, I’d love to have found this in a garage sale!
The final excellent painting is by our favorite impressionist artist, Claude Monet. This is “Vetheuil”, painted in 1879. His depiction of the reflections on the water is very impressive!
As you exit the National Gallery these are these animated birds along the street that I thought were quite interesting.
We then walked about 1km to the Shrine of Remembrance. This memorial was initially built in 1918 to honor the Victorian’s killed in WWI, but has become a memorial for all Australians killed in battle since Australia’s Federation in 1901.
There are various statues in the garden for each branch of the armed forces and for each significant war.
That night we successfully took a train to a fairly remote part of Melbourne to have dinner at a restaurant that many consider to be the best in Australia, Attica. We were joined by travel agent extraordinaire Kiley Luttrell, once again from The Travel Notebook! Kiley took photos of each course (11 in total), but I’m not going to subject to all of those. The very best courses are below. First up was this Kingfish Sashimi, formed in the Shape of Australia, complete with some spices that make up Tasmania. Even though it looks kinda creepy, it’s at least very creative!
Some rock lobster that was absolute yum!
We can’t forget the Roo Satay, which was the first time we had tried Kangaroo! It has a lot of spices, so it’s hard to say if it tasted like chicken or not. Loved the skewer though!
This was one of several desserts. This is definitely a splurge dinner!
Here we are 10 pounds (4.5 kilos for you Aussies) heavier! Thanks for joining us Kylie and Simon!
Coming up next, we fly to Launceston, Tasmania, and get a guided tour of the local highlight, Cataract Gorge.