Ruffs Adventures: Catching up

Well last Thursday we picked up these 2 to come and stay for part of the day

April growing so much and loves it in our city pad ☺

Loves the trams going past

"Bye bye Trams" she calls out lol

Cooper had a lovely long nap after lunch

Later we took them for a tram ride

So cute and looks pensive, but really she was excited to go on the tram not in a pusher ♥

Cooper loves the swing at the park

Granpa watching April go down that slide ☺

Before Daddy came to pick them up they had a bath in the trough......Cooper loves it ☺☺

And that night our dear friend Leone came to visit.......she lives in New Zealand and came for her son's belated graduation.

On Friday we went to a building called Eureka Tower and our fun selfie lol

Up to floor 88......info here.....eurekaskydeck

And just look at that view

Our little building is way over to the right

That one behind that crane looking small lol

We walked all around the 88th floor

Got to see many sides of Melbourne

This is Flinders street station way down there.....

Look at all those buildings various ages and sizes

Paul and Leone enjoying the outdoor deck

This shot looks out to Myer music bowl and Rod Laver arena (concert/sport centres)

The Yarra River looking tiny and Federation square

And something we did not do was the Edge experience.....a room slides out slowly

Glass all around but starts opaque

Us enjoying our own view

And there suddenly glass clear and all waving lol.....

Later we caught up with Leone's son Shane and girl Nancy no pics of them and we went to a Viking Exhibition at the Museum

Only this pic I took

It was really good and spent 2 hours reading all about them

After we checked this fountain out......it is nearby the museum and in front of the Royal Exhibition building Carlton.....below some info I copied

Josef Hochgurtel
Portland cement fountain
1880
Carlton Gardens

Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne and trained under Herr Fuels, who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and Copenhagen.

The colossal fountain stands some ten metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne's two grand international world fairs. The fountain's visual elements were designed to display the young colony's confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations. At the central level of the fountain, four youths (representing a young and vibrant colony) dance below symbols of the arts, science, commerce and industry; for example, musical instruments, a telescope, sailing ship, steam engine and globe of the world. Above this are images of Victoria's indigenous flora and fauna, and a boy with a clamshell. Holding all of this aloft are four merpeople rising up from the waters of the lower pool. Built during Victoria's boom years, the fountain's spouting water, it was thought, would demonstrate the power and success of the recently established Yan Yean project, which brought potable water to the city. On opening day, however, the pressure was too poor to affect much more than a spurt from atop of the grand edifice.

In 1994, Hochgurtel's fountain underwent major restoration. It remains a great reminder of the glorious days of Marvellous Melbourne.