couldn't sleep so i blogged about sunday

yes, where do i start?

well, i began my sunday sleeping in, waking an hour later than my intended time, watched a short clip on my laptop and then finally, headed to the city. i have to say the original planned activity was to go check out the longest cake attempt at crown, the melbourne food and wine festival: wicked sunday, and the queer movie festival orgainsed by volkswagen at the acmi (australian centre for the moving image)

first stop: melbourne central.

i cannot deny that shopping is an integral part of my life, HOWEVER, this time round i only window-shopped, at the start. not that it's something that's to be extremely proud of, but it does have a status somewhere with me. alright, i actually did some SHOPPING, what i eventually purchased, will soon be found out. as i walked down swanston, i finally got my starbucks fix of caramel frappe, i moved on to federation square.

second stop: fed square

knowing how the melbourne swimming competition is on at the very same time, mini events like activities and an exhibition was held along the pavements & open areas. the photography exhibition did capture the australian swimming pride i suppose. continuing my journey on the road-side, i ended up skipping the queer films as i missed the short film i wanted to catch, and it would have cost me 15bucks. i didn't really want to spend much that day.

having officially stepped at one of the few entrances to fed square, a presentation on chocolates was being held. how odd, i thought. basically this entrance was lined on both sides with booths (they weren't really booths in the traditional singaporean sense, but you get the gist) selling coffee and chocolates. a pretty deadly combination. yielding to the smells and sights, i walked further in. lo and behold, a cooking show was being held. it suddenly felt as though a tv studio was transported in there.

the chef looks strangely familiar... i think he's famous.

so well equipped, functional and cool at the same time.
the yarra river was a short walk behind where this place was.
this little area was called BMW edge.
yes, my memory failed me once again.

just behind all those row of seats was the humble san-pellagrino photography competition.
this was one of the many that were on display. i was too afraid to be caught taking photos.
hence, the only photo from the exhibition. many used the color accent technique, which captured the various colors of the sparkling juice/water. this was the one i really liked though.

fed square was so crowded, somehow,
i finally found one part that was still deserted.

i love this pic, cos' of the seagull.
looked kinda retarded chasing after it to make it part of my photo.
it kept moving away from me.
yup, that's the yarra river and the food & wine festival going on.

third stop: i didn't know where i was going then except

i had begun snapping away with my only camera, and my batteries died on me. ended up having to leave fed square in my search for batteries. where's a 7-11 when you need one?
hint: my first shopping purchase

walking further and further away from fed square, i ended up near the train depot.

the weather was so good, just look at the skies.

that's when i ended up on this bridge, birrarung marr.
still not knowing where i was going,
i walked down it as it looked as though there were activities going on afar.

guess i was right after all.
it was an event organised for 12th FINA world championships or something like that.
there were acts, music, entertainment of all sorts really, ongoing from one stretch to another

security for the event.
police on horses.
the horses were so well-groomed and beautiful.

an art installation by yayoi kusama.
i seriously thought they were mushroom seats, but errr... apparently not.

here's the artist.
she kinda freaks me out.
and it was actually a polka-dot inspired installation.

after all that walking, i decided to get a map and schedules of the event and rest my weary legs which were starting to blister due to new shoes.
as i took this, i only realised after that the woman beside me was actually breast-feeding.
hmm, was kinda embarrassing for me.

to show how crowded it really was.

if you looked at the enlarged version, by clicking on it,
you'll be able to see the throngs of people on both levels.
the food & wine festival extended to south bank as well, over this other bridge.
don't the tents remind you of hersheys chocolates?

walking down the busier bridge to get to southbank.
the girls with capes caught my eye,
take the blue 'g' out from row, you get spg. how lame, but yeah.
such display through clothing, how seldom it's seen in singapore.

ah.. i've arrived on southbank. and aside from the chocolate and coffee decadence, WINE!
i know, i sound like a doofus, food & WINE festival, but hey, it didn't occur to me then.

marketing collateral for the festival, what i don't get,
why does it say gippsland? this is the city isn't it?

one of my weak attempts of arty-farty photos,
along yarra river

errrm, why was there a lock and chain?
to prevent people from stealing it?

fourth stop: just past crown casino/hotel
i know i said i wanted to catch a glimpse of the longest cake attempt, but i really saw no cake. i gave up and continued my walk past crown and i found the melbourne exhibition centre, convention centre and the maritime museum. seemed pretty interesting, but the maritime museum was strangely deserted and gave an aura of, let's just say, it wasn't exactly welcoming, so i decided to give it a pass this time round.

it was so random to see such an old wooden sign post these days.

the path i took.
i passed by some boats, but it didn't occur to me to take photos, but they were kinda cool.

i was nearing a wharf and the graffiti on the signs caught my eye.
people leaving their sense of humour, though quite lame.
well, i did chuckle when i saw it.

fifth stop: the wharf
i really really had absolutely no clue where i was, but there were these two large deserted storage areas which had signs of informing people that they had both shifted to central pier (hmm, i wonder where that is)

this mosaic wall caught my eye.
i think they are moving the piece as well as the surrounding wall,
reasoning for my deduction, check out the picture below

if you notice, there are red stickers on the potted plants as well as the wall above,
it said lot so-and-so. hence, my deduction. it's kinda weird don't you think.
then again, i have no experience i wanting to move walls, so yeah.

docked. a river taxi?
i've always wondered, why are certain modes of transport always yellow.
yellow transport = taxi.
universal?

i finally found out where i was, the south wharf ferry terminal.
apparently unused now of course, i forgot to mention was even though there mainly cyclists and couples strolling, there was A lounge in this mostly-deserted area.

the view i took away of the yarra river.

walking back to flinders st, i spotted a gigantic bird statue.
really. i didn't photoshop this in. none of my photos were in any way edited.

actually it wasn't really my plan to walk down flinders, i was hoping to walk along spencer st, cos i wanted to buy krispy kreme back since i saw them at my first stop, melbourne central. got a bit lost, so i chose the safe route. once again walking down flinders, i made my second purchase. plasters. i didn't realise till MUCH later that my skin was rubbed off and was bleeding. sounds gross, yes it looked gross too.

my long walk/journey of today seemed to be spent much of my time and energy. but somehow this whole journey lasted only for slightly two hours. not that i walked real fast, but daylight saving ended, and i gained an hour. ha. settled my sushi craving from a takeaway, and that was how my sunday went. note how i ended up shopping, right idea, wrong concept.

i would say my sunday was pretty darn fulfilling, and looks like there's gonna be something else later this week.