My goal was to find some armour for my iPhone, which led me first to a "dollar store" then to Melbourne Centre, a mall comparable to Toronto's Eaton's Centre. This mall in central Melbourne (duh) has an Alice in Wonderland design aesthetic that is bold, playful and cheeky.
Across from the mall, I stepped into the city library and found a classic building wrapped in a modern envelope. A central classical room had doorways in each corner leading to "Arts," "Resources," and "Experimedia" rooms. Up some stairs was a gallery which led to two more classic reading rooms, including the Trobes reading room, shown right. A wedding cake of a room, with stark white walls leading to a dome of skylights. The light was so bright photographs of the dome turned out as washes of nothingness on my iPhone, so I'll have to go back on a cloudy day.
From here I jumped on the free Circle Trolley that takes you around the city. On Flinders Street I intended to grab a bike, but was so enthused by the gallery in the library I decided to go on to the Australian National Gallery.
The special feature was a Napoleon exhibit covering his entire career with paintings from his day, furniture pieces, jewellery and videos of the buildings where he lived. Gosh, Napoleon had an ego the size of the universe but he also accomplished one heck of a lot, from changing judicial codes across France, to re-visioning Paris from the ground up. There were many famous portraits of the little emperor on a horse, in busts, but I was particularly ecstatic to see other paintings of the time such as David's "A Marat" - a fave of mine. Video footage proved a creative means to show the rooms where he lived in all their splendour. Napoleon sure liked grand looking beds, framing them in enough drapery to make wedding dresses for one hundred empresses. The only unfortunate part of this visit: the Australian collection is at another gallery that is not open on Mondays.
My day ended with a half pint at an Irish pub where I met an Irishman from Dingle (a 45 minute drive from Tralee where PulseLearning has an office) and a lovely meal at a Spanish tapas restaurant where I met a man from Perth who is originally from Kleinberg, Ontario.
Small world.
Today I'm off to the Victoria Market and a meeting in the afternoon.
Across from the mall, I stepped into the city library and found a classic building wrapped in a modern envelope. A central classical room had doorways in each corner leading to "Arts," "Resources," and "Experimedia" rooms. Up some stairs was a gallery which led to two more classic reading rooms, including the Trobes reading room, shown right. A wedding cake of a room, with stark white walls leading to a dome of skylights. The light was so bright photographs of the dome turned out as washes of nothingness on my iPhone, so I'll have to go back on a cloudy day. From here I jumped on the free Circle Trolley that takes you around the city. On Flinders Street I intended to grab a bike, but was so enthused by the gallery in the library I decided to go on to the Australian National Gallery.
My day ended with a half pint at an Irish pub where I met an Irishman from Dingle (a 45 minute drive from Tralee where PulseLearning has an office) and a lovely meal at a Spanish tapas restaurant where I met a man from Perth who is originally from Kleinberg, Ontario.
Small world.
Today I'm off to the Victoria Market and a meeting in the afternoon.
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