Melbourne impressions

After about ten days in Melbourne, I am (getting) ready to move again. This longer stay in Melbourne and at Monash was quite profitable, both from a professional perspective as I had many discussions with faculty and students, gave several lectures with interesting feedback from the audience, planned MCMski IV on the side, and worked on ABC calibration, and from a personal perspective, as I recharged my batteries, shook off travel fatigue, had long and diverse runs every morning, including one to St Kilda’s beach, ate at diverse and mostly great restaurants (from Ethiopian to Thai, to French, &tc.) and truly terrific Australian wines (incl. a 20 year old Baileys of Glenrowan from Murray Smith‘s collection!).

Because of its compact downtown, I also found Melbourne easier to apprehend than Sydney, with the biases due to staying there longer and being walking distance from the centre. The Victoria market is as thriving as the last time I visited it, offering an impressive range of foods to pick from or sample on the spot. I also visited the National Gallery (Ian Potter permanent collection) enjoying very much the large collection of aboriginal paintings (as well as some of the other paintings).

I am now off for a family vacation along the Great Ocean Road and beyond so will not post (news) for a few days! Enjoy summer in the northern hemisphere/winter in the southern one, and JSM if you are in San Diego!