March 14 -- Adelaide

There's no chance of mistaking Adelaide with Melbourne or Sydney just as there's no mistaking San Jose for San Francisco or New York.  In fairness though to Adelaide, we really were limited in our opportunity to explore this South Australian city.  We stayed in city centre only a few blocks from a scenic river park similar but on a smaller scale to Melbourne's Yarra River area.  We also visited the State Library of South Australia which was a bit more like a government building lacking the interior and exterior architectural appeal of the State Library of Victoria.   There was a very large bank of internet/email terminals which were available for general usage and all with neatly organised signs indicating the proper purpose for each and that "sign-up" was required in advance.   We signed-up and waited our turn but only used the terminals b briefly since longer durations required reservations of 24 hours according to the signs.  I got the feeling that Adelaide might just be a bit more Victorian than Victoria.

The main attraction seemed to be Rundle Street and the adjacent Rundle Mall which were a section of the CBD that had been converted to a pedestrian mall no doubt to invigorate an aging downtown economy and to increase tourist appeal.  However, it lacked the panache of Melbourne though it did also have the similar European charm to it.  Adjacent to the CBD was Adelaide University which looked interesting from the fringes but we didn't have time to explore the inner campus.

I'm sure Adelaide has many virtues that went undiscovered during our brief visit.  Too bad we didn't stumble into our cricket buddies we'd met earlier or find a pickup Aussie rules football game.