Footy and Good Food
Now that my luck has begun to turn around I am
feeling a little bit more adventurous. Its time for some new
experiences.
Now that my luck has begun to turn around I am
feeling a little bit more adventurous. Its time for some new experiences.
I came to the conclusion that I love Melbourne too much to leave so early, so rather than traveling to Perth then to Sydney I decided that I would get a round trip flight to Melbourne and then to Sydney from here. That way I could extend my trip here a few days. The problem was that I had to change my flight over the phone, and when doing so I wasn't paying attention and extended my trip and made a round trip fare when all I really had to do was one or the other. I decided not to worry about it and leave it alone.
After getting ready for the day I called Quimby to one thank her for the great night, and two find out if she really wanted to go to the footy game like we had talked about last night. "Footy" is the term for Australian Rules Football. At this point I just assumed it was a slight variation on Rugby. Quimby said that there were tickets and gave me a time and place to meet. We going to watch the game the the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, which was an older stadium but had a great view of the city.
Before I met up with Quimby at 2pm I decided to grab some lunch and take a walk around some of the area that I hadn't seen. Being in a rush and having eaten like a pig I decided to eat healthy. The problem was that I didn't really know where to go, so I gave up and stopped in at a Subway. The food was the same, although they used some strange variation of bread and butter pickles, but in the end it just didn't taste like the original. In fact I can say the two worst meals that I had on this trip have been at American fast food chains. Now I know why people always say American food is so processed.
After walking around some streets, stopping at a coffee shop to check email and have a hot chocolate, my time was running out. I had to stop by the hotel and then catch the train to the Richmond exit that was where the Footy grounds were. The problem was that by the time I got to the railway station, and was volunteered by some train station employee to help a woman carry a bag down the stairs, I was beginning to run late. Helping the woman down stairs would not have taken so long if she just accepted my help rather than refusing it. I just didn't have the heart to say "ok" and walk off, so I stood there like an idiot while she banged her cart down the stairs saying "are you sure, let me just grab the end." Eventually she made it down and I high tailed it to the closest train that I was going to. Most trains went to Richmond because it was the next stop on the track. The subway loops around Melbourne city before it goes out to the burbs, but for some reason it doesn't complete the circle, and so Richmond then was the fifth stop. I was not going to be later that I thought.
I arrived at Richmond station when I realized that I had forgot the piece of paper that had the place I was going to be Quimby. This paper was also the one that I had written her phone number on. So I guessed that I would be able to figure out the intersection that she wanted to meet on. I went to one, and she wasn't there. I knew the names didn't sound right on any of the intersections. I went to the other side of the train station, and couldn't find her there. I walked up to the footy grounds and couldn't find her there. I thought maybe I could call the hotel and have someone go into my room to read the address, but all the phones were inside the grounds and I didn't have the tickets. I was really starting to panic. I thought what an awful person I was, I tell someone who I barely know that I will meet them at a given time, and I stand them up as far as they know. Meanwhile I am asking parking attendants about major intersections in the area. By this point almost a half hour had passed. Thats when the rain started. It was only an intermittent sprinkle but it was enough for me to really start to worry. I thought about hailing a cab and driving back to the hotel, and getting the directions and her number and coming back here. Luckily there were no cabs to be found. I went up the rail station, and through the other side of the entrance tunnel I saw her. I practically ran up to her and gave her a big hug. I think after ten minutes of apologizing she understood that I was an idiot and felt really badly about the screw up.
We made our way in the Footy grounds, and needless to say this was no a full game. It turns out that Melbourne has one of the worst teams in the league, and they were playing Sydney who would be in the playoffs but was not expected to win. So finding seats was not all that difficult. Quimby suggested that we go up to the top level in order to get a better perspective of the game. As it turns out Quimby has been to a game before, and I am sure she has seen a few in TV wether or not she wanted to. So she knew her way around the game. Most things she could explain to me, anything else we referred to the older Australian man to her left (who I have to say looked a lot like popeye).
Footy it turns out is just as popular as rugby in Australia. It also is nothing like rugby. The way I look at footy having never been to a game before. Its a game that takes some parts of Rugby, some parts of Soccer, and even some parts of Basketball, and roles them in with a healthy dose of Keep Away. It wasn't difficult to see that this was probably one of the most exciting sports I have seen. Its rougher than American football because there are no pads, there is more running than basketball, rugby or US football because they never really stop game play, and they run a lot further than soccer. These guys that play this are in great shape and if they wore some sort of padding they probably wouldn't get hurt so much.
The game ended much as expected the Melbourne team lost by quite a lot. And the Sydney Swans (I know what an intimidating mascot) moved ahead with a spot in the elimination round. We left the game and I grabbed a tram back to downtown Melbourne.
I stayed in my room until Steve Weisberg showed up. I had arranged for Steve and I to go to what was considered on of the best Chinese Resturants in town. When I called them earlier they said they were booked but if we showed up at 6:15 they would be able to fit us in. When I went downstairs to find out the directions, we ran into a snag. Just as Steve was arriving I learned that there were two chinese restaurants but the same name (the Tea House), one was not in the city one was. Guess which one I had booked the reservation at. So when we tried the Tea House in town it was fully booked and we had to readjust our plans. The concierge at the hotel suggested that we try out the steak house around the corner.
At this point I need to go on record to publicly thank Steve. When I spoke to him earlier from a pay phone he suggested that I rent a cell phone. After the expensive experience I had in New Zealand renting a cell phone, I told him I didn't really want to pay the money. That night Steve not only showed up with an extra cell phone that he had, but he also had an extra SIM card with $20 on it. All I had to do was connect it. With one phone call, I was in business. Now I could have people call me from the states, and seeing that it was a prepaid phone card, I couldn't get carried away like last time.
Anyway Steve and I had a great dinner. We had to walk by the nicest strip clubs I had ever seen to get there, but it was worth it. (The food I am talking about.) I had a great time talking about my old job, and who was where and how were things going. It made me realize just how much I enjoyed the aviation industry. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and Steve grabbed a cab back to the airport Hilton where he was staying.
I watched a little TV, and didn't write any journals, hence the reason I am writing this 4 days later.
I came to the conclusion that I love Melbourne too much to leave so early, so rather than traveling to Perth then to Sydney I decided that I would get a round trip flight to Melbourne and then to Sydney from here. That way I could extend my trip here a few days. The problem was that I had to change my flight over the phone, and when doing so I wasn't paying attention and extended my trip and made a round trip fare when all I really had to do was one or the other. I decided not to worry about it and leave it alone.
After getting ready for the day I called Quimby to one thank her for the great night, and two find out if she really wanted to go to the footy game like we had talked about last night. "Footy" is the term for Australian Rules Football. At this point I just assumed it was a slight variation on Rugby. Quimby said that there were tickets and gave me a time and place to meet. We going to watch the game the the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, which was an older stadium but had a great view of the city.
Before I met up with Quimby at 2pm I decided to grab some lunch and take a walk around some of the area that I hadn't seen. Being in a rush and having eaten like a pig I decided to eat healthy. The problem was that I didn't really know where to go, so I gave up and stopped in at a Subway. The food was the same, although they used some strange variation of bread and butter pickles, but in the end it just didn't taste like the original. In fact I can say the two worst meals that I had on this trip have been at American fast food chains. Now I know why people always say American food is so processed.
After walking around some streets, stopping at a coffee shop to check email and have a hot chocolate, my time was running out. I had to stop by the hotel and then catch the train to the Richmond exit that was where the Footy grounds were. The problem was that by the time I got to the railway station, and was volunteered by some train station employee to help a woman carry a bag down the stairs, I was beginning to run late. Helping the woman down stairs would not have taken so long if she just accepted my help rather than refusing it. I just didn't have the heart to say "ok" and walk off, so I stood there like an idiot while she banged her cart down the stairs saying "are you sure, let me just grab the end." Eventually she made it down and I high tailed it to the closest train that I was going to. Most trains went to Richmond because it was the next stop on the track. The subway loops around Melbourne city before it goes out to the burbs, but for some reason it doesn't complete the circle, and so Richmond then was the fifth stop. I was not going to be later that I thought.
I arrived at Richmond station when I realized that I had forgot the piece of paper that had the place I was going to be Quimby. This paper was also the one that I had written her phone number on. So I guessed that I would be able to figure out the intersection that she wanted to meet on. I went to one, and she wasn't there. I knew the names didn't sound right on any of the intersections. I went to the other side of the train station, and couldn't find her there. I walked up to the footy grounds and couldn't find her there. I thought maybe I could call the hotel and have someone go into my room to read the address, but all the phones were inside the grounds and I didn't have the tickets. I was really starting to panic. I thought what an awful person I was, I tell someone who I barely know that I will meet them at a given time, and I stand them up as far as they know. Meanwhile I am asking parking attendants about major intersections in the area. By this point almost a half hour had passed. Thats when the rain started. It was only an intermittent sprinkle but it was enough for me to really start to worry. I thought about hailing a cab and driving back to the hotel, and getting the directions and her number and coming back here. Luckily there were no cabs to be found. I went up the rail station, and through the other side of the entrance tunnel I saw her. I practically ran up to her and gave her a big hug. I think after ten minutes of apologizing she understood that I was an idiot and felt really badly about the screw up.
We made our way in the Footy grounds, and needless to say this was no a full game. It turns out that Melbourne has one of the worst teams in the league, and they were playing Sydney who would be in the playoffs but was not expected to win. So finding seats was not all that difficult. Quimby suggested that we go up to the top level in order to get a better perspective of the game. As it turns out Quimby has been to a game before, and I am sure she has seen a few in TV wether or not she wanted to. So she knew her way around the game. Most things she could explain to me, anything else we referred to the older Australian man to her left (who I have to say looked a lot like popeye).
Footy it turns out is just as popular as rugby in Australia. It also is nothing like rugby. The way I look at footy having never been to a game before. Its a game that takes some parts of Rugby, some parts of Soccer, and even some parts of Basketball, and roles them in with a healthy dose of Keep Away. It wasn't difficult to see that this was probably one of the most exciting sports I have seen. Its rougher than American football because there are no pads, there is more running than basketball, rugby or US football because they never really stop game play, and they run a lot further than soccer. These guys that play this are in great shape and if they wore some sort of padding they probably wouldn't get hurt so much.
The game ended much as expected the Melbourne team lost by quite a lot. And the Sydney Swans (I know what an intimidating mascot) moved ahead with a spot in the elimination round. We left the game and I grabbed a tram back to downtown Melbourne.
I stayed in my room until Steve Weisberg showed up. I had arranged for Steve and I to go to what was considered on of the best Chinese Resturants in town. When I called them earlier they said they were booked but if we showed up at 6:15 they would be able to fit us in. When I went downstairs to find out the directions, we ran into a snag. Just as Steve was arriving I learned that there were two chinese restaurants but the same name (the Tea House), one was not in the city one was. Guess which one I had booked the reservation at. So when we tried the Tea House in town it was fully booked and we had to readjust our plans. The concierge at the hotel suggested that we try out the steak house around the corner.
At this point I need to go on record to publicly thank Steve. When I spoke to him earlier from a pay phone he suggested that I rent a cell phone. After the expensive experience I had in New Zealand renting a cell phone, I told him I didn't really want to pay the money. That night Steve not only showed up with an extra cell phone that he had, but he also had an extra SIM card with $20 on it. All I had to do was connect it. With one phone call, I was in business. Now I could have people call me from the states, and seeing that it was a prepaid phone card, I couldn't get carried away like last time.
Anyway Steve and I had a great dinner. We had to walk by the nicest strip clubs I had ever seen to get there, but it was worth it. (The food I am talking about.) I had a great time talking about my old job, and who was where and how were things going. It made me realize just how much I enjoyed the aviation industry. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and Steve grabbed a cab back to the airport Hilton where he was staying.
I watched a little TV, and didn't write any journals, hence the reason I am writing this 4 days later.
Posted: Wed - September 3, 2003 at 12:31 AM
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Published On: Aug 01, 2004 11:37 PM
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Published On: Aug 01, 2004 11:37 PM