Update from Melbourne - The City

Well.
I had some time in town this morning to take some snaps.
The picture below is the city of Melbourne taken from the other side of the bay (Williamstown which used to be a cess pit but is now all swanky).
I had breakfast there this morning.
It's actually really hot and humid at the moment despite the overcast skies.
I had not been home in over a year and there were a few surprising changes.


At the site of this place used to be a wonderful 24 hour caff called Greasy Joes.
It was somewhere we would often stagger to for a bite to eat before heading home.
It's obviously not there any longer.
I like to think that the current owner sells more than their signage implies.


Gaslight Records is gone!
Gaslight is a Melbourne insitution.
It was the place you could go to find everything.
They had a tiny stage for instore appearances.
They had a nude day.
A classic calendar they'd distribute every year.
They sold tickets to shows.
I was sad to find it gone.


Melbourne keeps getting taller....


Another CBD cinema gone.
This is not such a big deal for me.
Melbourne has more cinemas than any single city in the southern hemisphere.
There are plenty of suburban cinemas that are really, really good, and with Melbourne being such an arty community, it is easy to find so-called arthouse movies.
The cinema below could well have been the very first movie house I was ever taken to as a child.

This is a street sculpture that sits outside a cinema just around the corner from the one above.
It looks like it should move along those tracks and do exciting things but it doesn't - something I always was vastly dissapointed about as a child.


This is a large poster for an exhibition I didn't see.
It's very Australian to mix art and toilets.


There are two things they could be doing to the top of this church.
1) Fixing it.
2) Putting in apartments.
I think it's more likely to be houseing than repairs.
I have no idea what the strange structure is at the front.
I assume it lights up at night as there seems to be neon strips in it.


Melbourne landmark Flinders Street Station.
Any fans of Elvis Costello may recognise it from his film clip "I Wanna Be Loved".


The Centre of the Moving Image which is attached to....


...this arts and TV complex.
I believe it was designed to look like a scab, or the dried remains of a hankerchief.


Under that large spire is the newly named Hammer Hall.
It used to be the Melbourne Concert Hall.
I'll be seeing the Eels there on Friday night.
I was dissapointed to discover that it's prounouced HAY-mer Hall and not Hammer, which gives it a bit of a Lord of the Rings vibe.


I love train stations.
This is about half of Flinders Street Stations platforms.


Will I ever see a Melbourne skyline untouched by cranes and men in hard hats...
There is plenty of this beautiful city that I haven't ever photographed.
The urge to return here permanently is strong of late, so perhaps I'll have the opportunity then...