Katherine the Great!!

Monday, 1/13/2025 was a travel day for Team Anseth.  The shuttle picked us up at 10 AM and delivered us safely to the Auckland International Airport.  We generally had a smooth time through security and checking-in.  The Quantas bag drop machines kept intermittently shutting off as we tried to check our bags.  Finally someone unplugged it, so we could get our bags through to the plane.  Our last goal was to get Ashley a glimpse at a Kiwi but the best we could do was Kiwi Discovery Store at the airport.

The flight to Melbourne was smooth and takes just a little over 3 hours.  You gain 2 hours on the flight which makes it even better 

On the plane to Melbourne.

Melbourne is just humming with excitement because the Australian Open has started.  The city totally embraces the AO with signage everywhere you turn.  Once the AO is over, the city will start preparing for its F1 race in March. Melbourne very much considers itself the capital of Australian sports.

Let’s get loud Melbourne 

Once we arrived at our hotel. We had a little time to clean up before we met our guide, Katherine. Her task was to show us a glimpse of Melbourne at night and let us sample a little bit of the cuisine that also makes this city great.

Katherine is originally from France.  Her mother was basically the chief of staff for the American ambassador to France from 1968 when she was appointed by Sargent Shriver until the middle 1990s.

Katherine speaks 4 languages, three of which I remember: French, English and Russian.  She has toured the Anseth, Moroccans and Russian oligarchs around Melbourne.  Katherine has 2 sons, one is a DJ and 4x4 driving enthusiast, the other is a pilot for Quantas. Katherine loves to Jay walk, which is also a huge bonus.  We had a fantastic conversation all night and she was even able to engage the girls.

The bottoms of this building is made from a common black volcanic stone found near Melbourne. However everyone in Melbourne calls it Blue Stone.

Street Art from Melbourne.  It is huge within the narrow lanes and alleyways of Melbourne.  This is an Emu if you didn’t know.

More street art.  This gentlemen is a fairly famous Melbourne street artist.

Some of the art is serious and some is silly most are done in vibrant colors

Our first stop was a little local pub the couldn’t hold more the 30 people.  We didn’t try any bits but we did have a drink.

I love these doors.

Hyde Park Swizzles

Apollo Inn

The bite list if you are so inclined 

The girls still going strong even after all the travel.

Walking the streets of Melbourne.

Love this street art look at the top for Shaq and Kobe.

Federation Square

Walking through Federation Square. Can you see the Jumbotron with the AO on it.  Random people just sitting in chairs watching it to the bottom right.

The architecture around Federation Square

Dinner: fries, lettuce, asparagus, prawns with noodles and lamb shoulder.  All of it was amazing and went well with my Tasmanian Pinot Noir.

Lamb shoulder up close.

Prawns and Noodles

The lettuce

Melbourne skyline at night 

Flinders Street Station. A common expression in Melbourne is “Meet me under the clocks at Flinders.”

Love this look at night.  The AO is everywhere.

Waking back after snagging gelato in the narrow lane.

Melbourne’s largest mosaic tile flooring with here and back into the building.

Melbourne at night.

We will have a more extensive city tour tomorrow. Not sure if anyone will ever compete with Katherine.  She was fantastic, funny, knowledgeable and most importantly proud of her city.

Grace has not appeared in a blog post in some time so back home in the frozen tundra she won 3rd place in her DECA competition.

Yeah, Grace and Q