Chapel St is renowned for shopping in Melbourne, starting with typical shops in the Windsor neighborhood and escalating quickly to upper end shops in Prahran and South Yarra neighborhoods. There are over 1000 shops lining both sides along a 2 km stretch. I went a little crazy and bought THREE pairs of shoes.
I pretty much shopped till I dropped, which undoubtedly squashed my enthusiasm for Richmond, my next neighborhood exploration. It was an ethnic mixing pot of Indian, Vietnamese, and Thai restaurants and spice shops, but it had a grungy ghetto feel to it, at least the area I was in. I walked what felt like 10 miles to the IKEA to look for bedding but was overwhelmed by carts and winging children galore.
I narrowly escaped the havoc to tram it to East Melbourne to check out the only viable option I've come across for a church I may like. Wow! It's called Planetshakers City Church, which does conjure some crazy images, which would be... appropriate. The church was wild and crazy with spotlights and a mosh pit during the praise and worship, a dance interpretation, skits, and just as I was preparing to listen to an Australian accent for the message, a guest pastor was introduced from the U.S. (bummer!). The church had a big gospel undertone with hooping and hollering and 'Amens'. I actually think I liked it. It will definitely require a second visit.
I was completely exhausted by the time I took multiple jam packed trams to get back home, squelching my earlier desire to head out for some live music. I turned on the TV and came across Rove - it's a late night comedy show (similar to Jay Leno or David Letterman but with more of a Saturday Night Live flavor). It was very entertaining - I laughed hysterically.
