Melbourne

Wednesday morning we arrived in Melbourne, pronounced with silent 'r' by Ozzie's. It was hour and a half flight, and we left our bags in a storage at the Sydney airport.The shuttle from the airport took about 50 minutes, and there was not much to see during the ride; country side with sheep. The temperature is definitely colder than in Sydney, and when we first arrived it was overcast, foggy, and drizzling. Our hostel room at the Nunnery is nice, all 7 of us are together. I had to put 5-6 layers of clothes to warm myself, because there was no heat in the room. We went for a stroll in the Fitzroy neighborhood, which is an artsy type of place, with many boutiques, cafes, and restaurants. We had dinner there, a $4 pizza, and then went walking toward the town. We first stopped at one church where they were praying the rosary. I stayed there for a little bit, and then with another continued with another girl, Sarah toward the city, while the other 3 stayed to finish the rosary. Our next stop was at St. Patrick's cathedral, which is the largest cathedral in Melbourne. A group of WYD pilgrims from Mexico was in there about the start the Mass with the priest from their group. So we looked around a bit, beautiful church, and then left as the spanish Mass was starting.
We were already in downtown, and the weather was clearing and getting a bit warmer (I only needed 3 layers of clothes at that time). We then went on a city circle tram, which is a free train ride around the CBD (central business district) where they explain the highlights, and then hopped off at the main train station. After walking for a few blocks we then noticed another beautiful church and decided to visit and warm up a bit. A service was in progress, and we thought to stay for, what we thought, the end of mass (since we missed the one at St. Patrick’s) After just a few moments we realized this wasn’t a catholic church, because the main minister was a woman. Right after the service, they were closing the church so we continued our walk. On the next intersection we run into the other 3 people from our group, and then walked together for a bit. We ended the evening at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, which wasn’t my favorite meal. It was so nice to sleep in a real bed that night.