Sept 25, Tuesday to Sept 27, Thursday

Sept 25, Tuesday  to  Sept 27, Thursday

Tuesday:  The drive between Geelong to Melbourne was a short one, only 75 kms.  I had fairly good instructions from Google Map for my drive through Melbourne on my way to Brighton Beach, where I had booked a hotel for one week.  The exits on the highway through the city were numbered and I needed to get off at #2 to head south.  

Driving into Melbourne on the freeway.  There is LOTS of traffic to contend with.

The ramps were counting down; when I reached the signs for # 3 I switched lanes so that I would be ready to exit.   PROBLEM:  After exit #3, the next one was #1 ! ! !   What the F___ happened to #2?  I didn't want to take a chance of going further, so I exited on #1 to end up somewhere in the downtown area.  I did not have a detailed map of Melbourne. The map that Hertz had given me was just the downtown area and the greater Melbourne surrounding area. It turns out that my map of the state of Victoria had smaller inset maps of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, the Gold Fields and the Great Ocean Road, but did not have one of Melbourne.  #(%&$#)@ ! ! !   OK, DEEP BREATHS..... You can do this Menard !

I knew I had gone far enough east, so that I could head south towards Brighton so I looped around with some left turns and came to a corner of "Ferrars" street, with a sign post pointing to St. Kilda.  YES ! ! !   I've done it ! !   Well close enough anyway.  I could see Ferrars on the downtown map so I knew I was now heading in the right direction.  I followed Ferrars into St. Kilda, where the road was remaned Canterbury, which was no longer on my map.  When I reached Barkley I decided to turn right to head south but since I no longer had a map with which to second guess myself, I stopped at a gas station to ask for directions.  I explained that I was looking for St. Kilda Road and Brighton Road and he told me I was only one block away, running at an angle, not quite parralel.  I continued one block to Carlisle, turned left, and then right on St. Kilda.  From there I could go back to the hotel's driving instructions into Brighton Beach.   It was as simple as A, B, C and I arrived at the Brighton Savoy Hotel without any further problems.   

I was obviously very early, it was only about noon when I checked in, but they had a room ready for me, so I was able to settle in.  I finally decided to stay put and rest.  I’m “sick – malade”.  This darn cold is getting worse, I’m coughing, I’m running a fever and my sinuses are dripping like a faucet.  Car or no rental car, I'm not going anywhere.

My room at the Brighton Savoy Hotel is quite nice and spacious.

Wednesday = in bed fighting off this cold

Thursday:  I actually went out today for about 3 hours, although it was cloudy this morning the sun was peeking through the grey clouds at noon.  I decided to just walk around and get my bearings.

The hotel is right on the Esplanade Parkway.  I decided to walk along the beach until I reached the Marina

 Brighton Beach

 Para sailing from a surf board

 

This is how far I am from downtown Melbourne.  Beautiful skyline in the distance.

Then into Brighton Beach downtown area 

 On Church Street I find.... the church of course.  This is St. Andrews.  A very old church which has undergone an expansion, but still retains the old church as a chapel.

 From the older section, looking into the new one.  It is beautifully done

and the stained glass windows, although modern, are breathtaking.

I continued along Church Street (the main drag in Brighton Beach). Turned out to be a nice warm day and the clouds disappeared while I was having lunch at a deli (Bagel, cream cheese and smoked salmon ! Last time I ate that I was in Pretoria, South Africa ! It was so good. Oh and it came with a nice glass of chilled white wine. May not help my cold but it did wonders for my moral.

 The shops on Church Street, Brighton Beach
Found some nice little shops to purchase some goodies: quinoa salad (with tomatoes, onions, parsley and goat cheese), veal paté with pistachios in it, beautiful multigrain mini loaf, snap peas & broccoli salad. It will make a nice change from soup. I’m only out for 3 hours of walking around, but it feels really good. Still, by the time I get back to the hotel my fever is back and I need to shower and have a nap. Lucky I'd found a pharmacy to refill my Aspro. Just checking my emails before taking a nap.

 My temporary office
One good thing about this cold is that I’m finally catching up on my blog notes and publications.