Now that the tennis finals have been played, we can backpedal a bit to our 4 days in Melbourne last month. It was a three-fer: we got to see our friends Maya and Doug and their awesome children; we got to see a lot of tennis; and we got to see the lovely city of Melbourne.
As luck would have it, we found ourselves in the same hotel as most of the tennis players, so even on the first day, it was as exciting riding the elevator or hitting the breakfast buffet as being at Rod Laver Arena. Among our elevator companions were Mike Bryan (winner, men's doubles), Ni La (runner-up, women's singles), and Pat Cash (winner, '87 Wimbledon). Juan Monaco and his girlfriend were charmed by Emmett's antics, and Marin Cilic peered over at us dolefully as he carbed up for his big match with Nadal (which we saw). The staff gave us good goss on the players, raving about the manners and sweetness of Rafa and lamenting the sourness of Kuznetsova.
We took in some rather straightforward matches: Petkovic over Sharapova (Shazza!), the wily Wawrinka over Roddick (Andy, Andy, Andy), Nadal over Cilic, and some of Clijsters over Marakova (one of the rare losers with whom we shared an elevator).
Meanwhile, we had a stupendous bbq at Maya and Doug's one evening. The next night we enjoyed the tennis with them, sweating through the heat, but the following night PK and I crashed the tournament solo and almost froze. That's the beauty of Melbourne where you can get 4 seasons in one day.
One afternoon, we drove out to the Mornington Peninsula through vineyards and past beaches--very northern California vibe there, gorgeous and full of variety. As you can see, we went strawberry picking. All in all, an excellent trip.
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