Viva Belcanto (and Melbourne!!)

And the day after that was pretty good too.

But first a little bit more about last night’s concert, which was everything I had hoped for. Absolutely wonderful. Arrived at the Rod Laver Arena on time. Funny to be there for a concert and not for a tennis match (hope to come back to enjoy the Australian Open there someday). I really wanted to know what the stars of that night, Placido Domingo but also Katherine Jenkins, would sing. So I quickly bought myself a program. Turned out to be one hell of a program. A couple of my favorite songs were on there: La ci darem la mano, Dein ist mein ganzes herz and a duet from Die Lustige Witwe (which unfortunately was performed in English, therefore I cannot come up with the exact title of the song). The entire program was filled with musical treats though: Tonight, Perhaps Love, I Could have danced all night, I dreamed the impossible dream…..

Maestro Domingo entered the theater un It is amazing that, at the age of seventy, this man is still able to perform with such intensity. And his voice is as good as ever (it took me a while to get used to the hollow sounds of a stadium though, a little spoiled by the excellent akoestics of the Concertgebouw and also in the Capitol Theater, although the performers do require microphones there). He is able to hit each note with such accuracy, it is just amazing. And Katherine Jenkins is pretty good too. What a voice for someone who is barely older than me (ja Placido, oude snoepert, sorry don’t know the English word for oude snoepert!!!). She didn’t seem at all intimidated by performing with maestro Domingo. And she wore a couple of the loveliest dresses that I have ever seen.

To a enthusiastic audience, Domingo and Jenkins gave quite a few encores My favorites: Placido Domingo’s delightful rendition of Granada, one of my favorite songs in the Spanish language. As much as I love the maestros voice in every language, it sounds most perfect in either Spanish and Italian (in my opinion). Katherine Jenkins sang one of the most beautiful versions of Somewhere over the rainbow I have ever heard.

After the concert, I decided to wait a little while to see if I could see Placido Domingo (and perhaps also Katherine Jenkins) from closeby. There were two more people waiting, a couple. We talked for a while, a very nice way to practice my English ;), I am finally getting proficient at speaking English again. After we had waited for a little while, a car sped by. We knew that there was a good chance that the maestro would be in there. And he was, the car kept driving. But Domingo rolled down the window, and enthusiastically yelled: bye bye!! I was too surprised to do anything but wave back ;). Trams were riding very infrequently at that point, so I decided it would be quicker to walk back to the hostel. And it was, even though I was walking on my not so comfortable shoes.

Awoke this morning to another sunny Melbourne. Great!!! My roommates weren’t that interested though, they all slept in. It is interesting that, when you are visiting a nice city like Melbourne, you decide to sleep in. FYI: the night before I was the last one that went to bed :). Overall, the Melbourne Central YHA is another good choice. Very clean and spacious, staff is nice. The hostel lacks atmosphere though, just like the hostel in Perth did (maybe it is a YHA thing, I don’t know, it is up to the Sydney Harbour YHA to prove me wrong).

Anyway, after doing some very necessary laundry, I embarked on a walking tour through the Melbourne city center. I remember that I liked Melbourne when I visited seventeen years ago. And I still happen to like the city :P. Great atmosphere and I love that it is situated on the waterfront.

What I saw: Federation Square, the Parliament (and the lovely Parliament Gardens, interestingly the Lonely Planet made no mention of this), Her Majesty’s Theater (Mary Poppins’ old Melbourne home, like the Capitol Theater also situated on the brink of Chinatown), quite a few malls and arcades (always thought that an arcade is a computer/game store, apparently it is also some sort of shopping center ;)). Walked back to the hostel along the Yarra River. Crossed the bridges to the Southbank a couple of times, so that I could get a good view of most of Melbourne’s skyline (although I think the tallest building of them all is actually on the Southbank, took a picture of that too :P.). Apparently I like skyscrapers. Didn’t have time for the Queen Victoria’s Market though, which was a pity.

In the middle of the afternoon, it was time for another run along the Yarra. I was just gaining a good rhythm when a group of people blocked a passageway. I really don’t like it when people refuse to get out of the way when I am running. Usually I think the better of it and jump out of the way. This modesty has –among others– given me bruised ribs in Spain (when I had to jump aside when people where taking , shortly after that I tripped and fell flat on the sidewalk). Every once in a while I refuse to budge. This was one of those days. I tried to squeeze myself through the group of people. I was about to “break” free, when I heard a loud excuse me behind me. Shortly after that I felt a kick in my butt. I looked back, into the face of an angry man who yelled at me that I had nearly pushed him over. Now that is unlikely. When I tried to pass the group, I wasn’t actually on full speed. I was practically walking when I tried to pass the group. I cannot imagine that, with my weight and at such low speed, I would be able to tackle a very tall and full grown man. And even if I pushed a little, it doesn’t really give someone the right to kick me in the butt :(. I was pretty angry at that point and yelled something like “Jackass” (I am usually very nice and well behaved, but sometimes people just push my buttons ;)). Man yelled back: “No you are.” I yelled back: “Can’t be, I am a girl!!” Probably dumbfounded, the man had no response. And I rushed off, finally free. No obnoxious and butt-kicking people on the rest of the route. Most people actually get out of the way when they see runners or cyclists approach. Apart from the little incident, I had a pretty good run.

After my shower, I walked to the city center again for some souvenir shopping. Always nice, but it makes my suitcase a little heavier lol. I really wanted some sushi for dinner, so that is what I got. Yummie. I took my time to pack my backpack and suitcase (which will stay behind in the hostel) for tomorrow.

Because tomorrow I will embark on another three day tour to the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians. I really don’t know when I am going to have the opportunity to write another blog. I won’t bring my netbook along. But if there are computers at the hostels I am staying at, with a proper internet connection, I am going to try to post another blog. Let’s wait and see, otherwise my next blog might come from Lancefield.