I could title this “transit stories”, but so much of our “transit”
was on foot. Melbourne is a large and densely populated city. Not so densely as
some, since Australia has lots of room, but there are people all over the
place. Nevin and Ali walk everywhere, so we did to.
Time to go to work: A 10-minute stroll down to their office
on Victoria Parade. Let’s go grocery shopping: A 15-minute walk either to Aunt
Maggie’s (organic groceries) or Woolworths (a larger grocery store). To the Royal
Botanic Gardens: 30 minutes through the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the tennis
courts where the Australian Open is played, across the Yarra River, and into
the gardens. A cup of coffee on Lygon Street (lovely Italian cafes): 45 minutes
down Victoria Parade and through the Carlton Gardens, into the long street of
cafes and restaurants and shops. Just lovely. Another 15 minutes on to Trinity
College, University of Melbourne? Sure! Why not? Only an hour’s walk back to
Powlett Avenue, where we stayed.
Is it too far to walk? The trams and busses run regularly and
take you to your destination quickly. We learned to use the Myki card, which
gave us access to the trams and busses (and also to the trains, which we did
not use). Is transit going to take too long? Or are there four of you, so that
transit costs more? We learned about Uber. I was surprised at how convenient
and quick Uber is, at least in a city like Melbourne. I doubt it would work as
well in Steinbach.
Uber in Melbourne had the advantage that it introduced us to
a wide variety of drivers – a Greek Australian who had moved to Greece as a
young man and was now back home; a young Somali man who lit up when I asked if
he was from Somalia; a Pashto from that part of Pakistan closest to
Afghanistan. I learned from him that most of the Afghani are Pakistanis like
him with family ties in Afghanistan. They came close, so close, to beating both
India and Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup this year. It would have been their
greatest coup!
I also enjoyed using the few words I have in other
languages: “Assalamu alaykum” to the Muslims; “Efcharisto” to the Greek Australian;
“Asante sana” to the Somali (OK – Swahili belongs next door in Kenya, but
hey!). I am no linguist, but I enjoyed the multiplicity of cultures and
languages around us in the city.
Melbourne and Australia as a whole are in the Asian orbit,
so our walks took us into and through many little pieces of Asia, from Indonesia
to Korea and from China to the Middle East. I was struck with the relative
absence of Black people. Africa is more in the orbit of North America than it
is of Australia.
The overall impression of life in Melbourne, then, included
walking – to church, to eat out, to worship, to shop, to play chess; whatever
it was, we walked to it. Now we’re back in Steinbach, and the garage door rolls
up and down and the car carries us where we want to go. Almost makes me miss
the civilized patterns built on walking almost everywhere.
2 comments:
Similar experiences for us when we visit London. Perhaps characteristic of many big cities. I recall reading that people in NYC are more physically fit that many parts of the U.S
Part of what contributes to our lacking of walking, in the U.S. (maybe in Canada too) is that we have our homes and the necessary businesses for our daily lives compartmentalized. Grocery stores are not always within walking distances. Even if they are, as in our area, you have to cross a major 4 lane highway (which is very close to an interstate highway, so lots of transit traffic). And there have been several fatalities on this road in the past year. Apartments and houses close by, but the barrier of the highway makes walking...challenging.
I do enjoy big cities. To my thinking they are much more civilized that suburbia--which is neither city nor country.
You are right. Melbourne also has lots of green space to enliven walking or running or jogging. Also, dedicated bicycle lanes with bicycles scattered around town that one can rent for a few hours.
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