Woke up hungry so I asked Jayson, the quarky concierge, where a good place to grab some breakfast was and he pointed me down the road to a string of hole in the wall joints. I ended up at a mom and pop joint called Get Layered and had an amazing breakfast. The place was run by a nice Indian couple who started the place up about 8 months ago and they could make a mean eggs benedict.
Decided to stop by the Shrine of Remembrance for post WWI Australian Soldiers as I had heard a lot about it when I was researching Melbourne. At first, it seemed like a simple pyramid shaped monument with a small room on the inside. I was fortunate to walk in just as a tour was starting up so I tagged along. Much to my surprise, there was much more to this monument than met the eye. First, there is a stone in the middle of the room with the inscription "Greater love hath no man". There is a small aperture made in the wall high above this rock and at precisely 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month (Australia's "Remembrance Day") a ray of sunlight shines onto the rock and over the course of a minute, makes it's way across the inscription. Every year, without fail, since 1934. Mind you, no computers were used to calculate such a feat. One man figured it all out. If this wasn't enough, the Shrine had sub-levels with different rooms dedicated to the various units that have fought for Australia. I was very impressed with how much dedication the people of Australia had to their service members. This entire Shrine was built (cost roughly $14.6million today) through money raised by the citizens of Melbourne. That's dedication.
From there I made my way into downtown, came across an Immigration Museum and stopped in for a bit. Nothing much of note here, just a typical museum. While in downtown I tried my luck at The Crown Casino and ended up losing $20 on roulette. I had a sweet tooth after that and came across Roule Galette, a small hole in the wall joint run by a few french guys and offered crepes. Sadly, they did not compare to the crepes I ate almost daily at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. But what can you do?
Decided to stop by the Shrine of Remembrance for post WWI Australian Soldiers as I had heard a lot about it when I was researching Melbourne. At first, it seemed like a simple pyramid shaped monument with a small room on the inside. I was fortunate to walk in just as a tour was starting up so I tagged along. Much to my surprise, there was much more to this monument than met the eye. First, there is a stone in the middle of the room with the inscription "Greater love hath no man". There is a small aperture made in the wall high above this rock and at precisely 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month (Australia's "Remembrance Day") a ray of sunlight shines onto the rock and over the course of a minute, makes it's way across the inscription. Every year, without fail, since 1934. Mind you, no computers were used to calculate such a feat. One man figured it all out. If this wasn't enough, the Shrine had sub-levels with different rooms dedicated to the various units that have fought for Australia. I was very impressed with how much dedication the people of Australia had to their service members. This entire Shrine was built (cost roughly $14.6million today) through money raised by the citizens of Melbourne. That's dedication.
From there I made my way into downtown, came across an Immigration Museum and stopped in for a bit. Nothing much of note here, just a typical museum. While in downtown I tried my luck at The Crown Casino and ended up losing $20 on roulette. I had a sweet tooth after that and came across Roule Galette, a small hole in the wall joint run by a few french guys and offered crepes. Sadly, they did not compare to the crepes I ate almost daily at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. But what can you do?
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