Today we decided to try the public transport system here in Melbourne, so armed with our myki cards we boarded the tram and set off for the city centre. Like most big cities Melbourne was busy, especially so as this week is the Melbourne Cup Horse racing meeting, a bit like Cheltenham Festival. Today may have been Ladies Day as we saw many 'well dressed' ladies in skimpy summer dresses wearing fascinators - not ideal as it rained heavily during the afternoon.
Melbourne is a mix of modern and colonial buildings, though the skyline is littered with tall cranes as there is so much redevelopment going on.
After a walk around part of the centre we headed for the Shrine of Remembrance, a massive tribute to Australia's war dead, teeming with school parties and harassed teachers.

Part of a display made of thousands of hand knitted poppies.

From there we headed into the nearby Botanic Gardens. 

 We wandered around for a while then retreated to the café as the rain started. An oasis of green right next to the city centre, the rain eased, or so we thought but as we headed back to the city centre the heavens opened so we retreated into the National Gallery of Victoria, sometimes I am confused by what people describe as art, today was one such day.

Fortunately the rain eased and we went to explore some of the main and side streets. They have some amazing cake shops and we were not disappointed. Fortunately you cannot absorb calories by looking.

As the rain got harder we headed back to the tram and the hotel.