So I know that by now, anyone who has been reading my blog for any amount of time – whether that be one blog, or as a more dedicated reader than I have been as a writer – is concerned about me. I know what you’re thinking, “Gosh, with all that work, how does JV ever have time for any fun?!?” Never fear, I manage to make some time for myself once in a while. We finished up a trip on Monday, and after a long week, even though it wasn’t a super tough trip, I’m always exhausted at the end of them, so I slept for the better part of Monday. Tuesday was my birthday here in Australia, but since I’d slept away Monday, we had a good bit of work to do. We finished up all of our trip paperwork, moved some bikes and equipment around, and wrapped up the rest of our post trip tasks. Some way to spend my birthday, eh? Nothing was made of my birthday here really. I didn’t tell anyone about it, but I did decide that I wanted to do a little something. Prior to coming to Australia I realized that the Australian Open was going on while I was here. I was excited at the opportunity to go to a Grand Slam tennis tournament, but after looking at our schedule, it didn’t look like it was going to be possible to go. Monday morning I got the idea in my head that maybe it would be possible to catch a day of it. Jared was pretty amped about taking a little vacation after the Tour Down Under to go to a couple days before going to the Astana training camp in California. Bec was going to take a day to see the tennis before returning to her regular job in Melbourne. I was jealous. I wanted in. So I decided I wanted to go. Texts started flying, emails bouncing back and forth, pretty soon I had secured a round trip plane ticket to Melbourne, Bec used some contacts and scored me an incredible seat at center court, I booked a plane ticket, and at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday I was on my way to Melbourne.
I basically claimed a mulligan on my birthday here and celebrated my birthday the next day. It worked out brilliantly! With the 17 hour time difference to Minnesota, almost all of my birthday wishes came in on the 28th here, so I spent all of that day watching some pretty awesome tennis, enjoying the atmosphere of a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and watching birthday wishes roll into my phone. After a solid day of watching tennis, I met up with Bec, we spent some time watching tennis on the lawn in front of the arena before heading out to see Melbourne. Bec knew of a couple good places to see. Melbourne really embraces the Australian Open while it is going on. There is a huge plaza in the center of the city where they set up a huge tv screen and people come out by the hundreds to watch the tennis. We managed to secure a table outside of a great Japanese restaurant at the edge of the plaza and have a great meal while watching some more great tennis. After dinner she continued playing tour guide and we walked along the river. On a beautiful summer night there were tons of people out and there was a great vibe coursing through the city. I have realized that I am very judgmental of cities. I have been in a lot of them throughout the world. I’ve loved some, I’ve hated some. In general I’m not a big fan of big cities, but I’ve realized that the make or break for me for most cities is the “green space” and public spaces in general. Melbourne is great for public spaces. There is a river that cuts through the city, flanked by parks on both sides, loads of public art – gigantic sculptures of all types, incredible architecture that becomes a part of the public space, and all in all exceptionally well designed public space, the kind that encourages people to actually go out and use it. Granted I’ve only spent about 24 hours in the city, but initial impressions of Melbourne are overwhelmingly positive. Eventually I made my way back to the hotel to get some sleep before boarding a plane the next morning for Adelaide and back to work.
Even though it was a very short trip, it was a great trip. I feel refreshed, renewed, and ready to crank up a new trip starting tomorrow (Sunday)!
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