I really enjoyed our walking tour of the city of Melbourne. This tour was probably my favorite tours that we did out of each of the cities. I didn’t expect to like Melbourne as much as I did since I am not a big city kind of person. But, this city had enough water, cool architecture, and art to balance out the big city scene. It also wasn’t as crowded as Sydney and was pretty clean for the most part.
One of the things I learned on this tour that I thought was the most interesting was about street art. The city of Melbourne is filled with aspiring artists, so it makes sense that street art is so popular here. The government and people of the city used to revolt against the street art by covering over the art by repainting the walls. It was a continuous cycle of repainting because street artists were quick to reclaim the empty wall space. There came a time when the city realized that they would not win this battle. Instead of trying to beat them, they decided to regulate the art. Artists are now allowed to paint in designated areas as long as they have a permit. This is a win for both sides. The artists still get to get their work out there, and the city gains tourist interest to areas of the street art. Some street artists also get recognized and commissioned for other projects from their street art. This relates to our class and our studies because as we looked at Australian culture, I noticed how much art is emphasized.
Something else that I thought was interesting was the cross lights at an intersection by federation square. It is the busiest intersection in the whole city. And, the city decided to change one of the crosswalk men to a woman, the only one in the city. They did this as a stepping stone of gender equality.
I also appreciated little things I saw in this city. We passed a really small hole in the wall coffee shop. But, there was one thing that was a little different than normal. There was normally one person working at the shop, because it was so small. And then there were a que of people waiting. Instead of eating away at time for the worker to handle the transaction, there was a bucket of money and the customers used the honor system to pay and gather their change for their drink. I thought this was really refreshing to see because I feel like this would not work elsewhere.
Melbourne is definitely a city that I would love to come back to and would like to explore and see more of! I wish we had more time here but wanting to come back gives me something to look forward to.
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