Closing Thoughts: Melbourne
I had actually not planned on visiting Melbourne until a couple weeks before I arrived, when I booked the chocolate class. I'd been to the city several years ago, and it didn't make a big impression on me. In fact, I though that Australia overall, while it had a lot to offer, was so similar to California in food, culture, and attitude. It didn't seem worth it to travel so far when you can visit California in California.
But I'm so glad I came back. Melbourne is really one of the world's great cities, combining a great contemporary art scene, great food, and a population that's not just diverse, but pretty well integrated. (The only other cities where I've seen this level of integration are Sydney, Auckland, and Toronto...so it's pretty sad that this is going on right now.)
I've written about it a few times already, but I think this new love of Melbourne is due to spending a lot of time in the neighborhoods of Fitroy, Abbotsford, Collingwood, and Richmond. To me they seem like one big neighborhood, and technically they're the city of Yarra. There was the Vietnamese food in Richmond, art galleries all around, and fun shopping on Brunswick St in Fitzroy. The stores here generally sell only Melbourne-based designers. In fact, at one store the sales clerk was amazingly knowledgable about the construction and dyes of the merchandise. He guessed my size perfectly (3 half-sizes smaller than my usual size). I asked him if he was also a fashion designer (like, on the side); he pointed at the other clerk in the store and said, "Well, I assist him in designing the clothes."
