So, I'm posting this quite late into Wednesday (it's almost
Thursday on my side of the world), because I was having some technical
difficulties for the post originally intended for today!
However, that post will go up next week and it
gives me the opportunity to share something quite thought-provoking with you
guys for today's post ☺️
"The Weapon of Choice Project was conceived to provide a graphic demonstration of
the invisible pain caused by verbal abuse, It is meant to provoke a
conversation about the problems of domestic violence, child abuse, and
bullying." It was created in 2014, but I only recently discovered it.
It's
a take on what would happen if verbal abuse left scars, just as physical abuse
does. Would the physical manifestation cause it to be taken more seriously?
Photographer Richard Johnson captured that in his photo project.
Bruises
and Scars. Violent Marks. Embedded with hateful words.
The main takeaway for me from this project is:
What if
verbal abuse left the same scars as physical abuse.
It's
an inspired creative vision and a meaningful message.
And - it's things like this that again make me wonder, why do we waste time on and put energy into negativity, when we could be doing the exact opposite (have you had a chance to read this post?).
So as I mentioned in last week's blogpost I was going away
on a short trip to Melbourne; I'm back now and I would strongly suggest getting
a beverage of your choice and getting comfy - because I have a whole bunch
of photos to show for it! ☺️
I have
two friends from high school who live down there now - and a family friend, who's
like a big sister to me, so I stayed with her!
This was
my first solo trip, first time catching a plane by myself (I've travelled a
tonne but it's always been with my family, mum, or older brother);
although it's the tiniest thing, I was so excited about it!
A photo posted by Raashi Agarwal (@raashiagarwal) on
I mean it when I say that day we walked all over Melbourne city. ALL
OVER. Haha. What I forgot to mention was that I also ate my way through
Melbourne that day. Only way to do it ;) Such a tough life, I know :P
Basically we started off by going to the famous Queen Victoria Markets. (I may have been so excited to be with my friend that I forgot to take photos, luckily Melbourne tourists before me were more proactive, so these next three photos are taken by others).
That was
then followed by a whole lot of walking around throughout the city, through all
of the shopping streets, and centres, and arcades.
We then ended up at one
really famous landmark in Melbourne: Hosier Lane.
It is basically
this laneway which is noted for its graffiti-covered walls and urban
flavoured art installations.
"Another cheap import disposed of as junk"
A random bunch of Hieroglyphics
I knew about this lane, but for some weird reason I had assumed the laneway
had been covered in art a while back and stayed that exact same way. But
obviously, the whole nature of graffiti is that it's ever-evolving. Every day
changes are made to the lane art.
My friend was actually there last week and took a photo ("When laneways become
galleries") of this exact same wall; you can clearly see the
difference in the bottom portion of the wall.
Sidenote: I thought the photo she took was extra cool (refer to
the large "Will You Marry Me"? text) given the Photographs capturing Proposals post from last
week! ☺️
I would LOVE to see the moment that the person it was intended for saw it! ❤️ I kept
saying to my friend that imagine if one graffiti artists creates the best work
of their life, but the next week it's been painted over - but that is all in the
spirit of urban art and graffiti. It's the beauty of it.
Note how
this one was created in 2010 and restored in 2013.
After we stared at all the walls for a while, and although we were
still full with food, we found ourselves at what is now one of my
favourite places ever: WAFFEE ❤️
Guys,
this place. IS DELICIOUS.
Look at that waffle-making machine contraption!
After
that, she continued to show me all the city streets.
When we
were in a shopping centre I came across T2, a really popular tea
store in Australia, but it was a massive version; excuse the bad quality
photographs but this store had flavoured tea slushies and I was so excited by it!
YUM, CHERRY POMEGRANATE FLAVOURED TEA JUICE SLUSHIE.
Needless
to say I was absolutely STUFFED with food by this point.
In the
evening, my friend and I met my sister at Federation Square and went to get
some Vietnamese food.
Yes, more food. I could barely move by the end of the
night - good thing we were walking around so much.
Just a
pretty view of a cathedral on our walk back home after dinner.
The next
day I ventured out into Melbourne by myself to go meet my other friend in the
city. Melbourne city transport is centred on a really good tram system - and I
was lucky enough that where I was staying was really close to a tram stop that
took me straight to the city.
Long story short I had a bit of a Raashi fail and
ended up on a tram that took me in the wrong direction...whoops. But! After an
hour (instead of 15 mins) I did manage to make it to the city and found my friend!
We randomly decided to do a walk through of the state library (which was very fancy).
We visited the 'Mirror of the world: books and ideas' exhibition that happened to be on. It was very fascinating and quite poignant.
I feel
like sometimes in our technology-focused generation we forget to appreciate and recognise the importance of the
old-school form of written words.
The exhibition had everything from sacred texts, to history-changing books (like Simone De Beauvoir's 'Le Deuxième Sexe'), to original comic books.
They had
the ‘Midget library' on display, which has 12 miniature reference books
(including a Bible, English and French dictionary, a volume of Robert Burns’
poems, and an alphabet of birds and animals).
The
World Heritage Listed Carlton Gardens was our next stop.
Look at
this tram we caught from there!
We
walked through one of the main train stations there, Flinders St, which had
such a cool old school vibe.
Look how
they put the vending machines in cute, old-fashioned refreshment stalls!
We walked
around Southgate.
Back towards the city...and went back to Waffee. Don't
judge me. Haha. Trust me you would have done the same :P
This time we got ice-cream with the waffle with melted chocolate inside, and a raspberry and white chocolate waffle. YES. Haha.
Walking
along some streets I saw clocks made of records.
After a
while I left my friend and went to meet my sister. I would like to point out at
this point that after my morning incident I learnt my lesson and was able to
successfully navigate Melbourne by tram, by myself! Haha yay!
That night we
went to Chadstone Mall - the biggest shopping centre in the Southern
Hemisphere. So pretty!
A photo posted by Raashi Agarwal (@raashiagarwal) on
We had
some wedges and drinks with her friend, walked around and then randomly decided
to get a foot massage - cause why not!?! Haha.
We were
there till closing and finished off our night with some Indo-Chinese food.
The next
morning was spent...
Exploring
the streets and shops around where my sister lives (a really cool, hipster,
indie-type of vibe area with lots of random boutiques, galleries, cafes and
pop-up restaurants) and then sitting down for brunch!
Haha how awesome are these lamps!
At our brunch seats.
We got a
savoury and sweet dish and shared:
Mexican
poached eggs with salsa, guacamole and jalapeños.
Banana
French Toast with raspberry jam, mascarpone cream and pistachios.
(Can you
see how I forgot to wait and take a photo before eating :P)
SUCH
GOOD FOOD.
My
sister took me around the city, passing through Carlton Gardens again (such a
beautiful, sunny day!)
She lent me some lace-up brogues to wear for the day, we were
matching. ☺️
The
weekend I was in Melbourne there were some massive football games going on,
while we were walking a group of guys wearing official uniforms started walking
with us and said hi, and we thought they may have been from an official team. I
only got a chance to take a blurry photo when they walked away from us.
At which
point I messaged my guy friends saying: "Oi are these guys legit?"
and their reaction was:
Haha, so I guess we saw some Real Madrid players?
That
evening, my sister wanted to show me different Melbourne things, so we went to
a rooftop bar on top of this building.
And chilled here as well.
I didn't take too many photos from that night cause we kept going from
place to place and it was a big group of us ☺️
I don't
really drink but here are photos of some of the drinks from that night:
We ended
the night on a rooftop with this view!
The next
morning we walked
and went
to apparently what is a Melbourne Institution, Trippy Taco, for what I thought
was the best Mexican Breakfast Food.
