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From Ithaki Greece to Victoria Australia - An ithacagreece.com trip |
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November and December 2006 |
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The Shop Drop |
In Melbourne you can shop til you drop. The distances you cover in a days' shopping are enough to wipe anyone out. Whether you choose one of the popular strips, the city center or head out to the Burbs for a massive Shopping Center experience, your feet get a real pounding through the kilometers of choice. With multi-nationals taking over the world, it's good to see that there are still quaint little stores with merchandise that hasn't been mass produced, and of course the Opportunity shops, from which not only great bargains can be found, but Vintage clothing and accessories that outfit most of the underground culture of the inner city. Organic is big, Ecological and recycled are big. Environmentally friendly is big. |
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Big is good and even bigger is better. Mere department stores have become shopping cities, merchandise high rise with wide lanes to keep the dollars rolling. |
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Myers Department Store is a Melbourne tradition.
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In the Myers city store, you can now shop for clothes and cds, play computer games, drink beer and watch 'live' music without leaving the basement. Everything you want only an escalator ride away. After Ithaki shopping, the sheer volume and selection of stuff was just a little exciting, but the novelty soon wore off when the decadence and waste of it all became apparent. The pre-Christmas rush of consumerism is as ugly here as it is everywhere else in the world, where people shop as if it's the last opportunity they'll ever have, but after a few years away from it, it seemed even more ugly than usual. Stuff, stuff and more stuff, and that's not even mentioning the food. There's so much of it. Food stalls wherever you look. Thai, Japanese, Indian, vietnamese, vegetarian, vegan, 'good for you' take-away, 'bad for you' take-away, but Melbourne does have some of the best sandwiches you're ever likely to eat and some of the best restaurants you'll find anywhere. |
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Food Food Food
The shopping highlight was shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit. Great choice, great quality and the freshness just couldn't be beat. Australia is at the top of the list when it comes to fresh food and I wasn't going back to Ithaki until I had my fill. Not that food isn't fresh on the Ithaca, it is, but by the time it travels to the island, it does usually have a few days on the clock ticked off.
Left - Kandys Fruit Supply. The Kandiliotis family may have their lives in Balwyn, Melbourne, but they have their roots in Ag. Ioannis, Ithaca.
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Favourite Melbourne shopping experiences - Victoria Market - city, Camberwell Market - Camberwell, Greville and Chapel street - Prahran, , Brunswick street - Fitzroy, High Street - Northcote/Thornbury and Sydney road Brunswick. 'Out of this world' big places to shop - Southland Shopping Plaza, Northland Shopping Plaza, City Central Shopping Plaza, Chadstone and Frankston Plazas and Doncaster Shopping Center. Before Christmas, that's where Santa hangs out. Why live and work at the Pole when the shopping Plazas of the world have everything he needs, they save him on travel time and work load. No wonder the reindeers are on the dole and Mrs. Clause is now Managing Director of 'Toys are Us'. |
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(C) 2003 - 2006 ithacagreece.com. All rights reserved. |
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