Melbourne: Book Sales and State Library

It turned out to be a book day in Melbourne, and thankfully we anticipated buying some books on the trip, so we were able to take advantage of it. We happened to see on an academic organization’s social media post that there was a used book sale by the Royal Historical Society of Melbourne happening just a few blocks from our apartment, so we couldn’t resist (though books are so heavy!). We found a couple good ones, then went to the Book Grocer clearance book store we had seen earlier in the week to find some $6 brand-new books. What a deal! I had to carry the latter ones around the rest of the day, but they were worth it. Despite some of the dire predictions a few years back, I don’t think books are ever going to go away, even with digital. You just can’t browse digital in the same way, and lots of us prefer hard copies.

Yay book sale!

Next was the State Library where there was a protest going on in front about letting in more refugees/closing the offshore processing centers. You aren’t going to find that kind of agitation too often in Christchurch (or New Zealand for that matter). We went through the exhibits on the history of books and some old ones from their collections. I had no idea there were so many copies of Alice in Wonderland in so many languages! There was also an exhibit on the more traditional history of Melbourne’s founding. Pretty much the history of men doing things. The library has a beautiful, uniquely shaped reading room.

miniature books were popular at one point

stained glass Shakespeare

We then stopped into a three-story game store and tested out the Wii U and reminisced at the little display on the history of Nintendo game consoles. Technology can sure do a good job at making you feel dated.

From there we walked to get some of the doughnuts from Doughnut Time, even though they were such tourist prices ($6 for regular and more for the filled ones!). They market themselves though with all of the colorful candy and toppings. We lazed out on dinner for our last night and just got fast food.

pizza, Mr. Burger's chicken ranch burger

chocolate doughnut with cookie dough, gluten-free mint doughnut