“Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can.” I’ve always loved that quote by Danny Kaye and it kind of reminds me of one of the reasons I chose Melbourne. As well as this trip being a huge splatter on our personal “canvases,” Melbourne, and especially our St. Kilda area, is known for being artsy and a little more funky than “sophisticated” Sydney.

At the ground level, Melbourne provides a canvas for public artistic expression — I love wandering through the laneways of bold and very striking graffiti. Playgrounds are whimsical and colorful and I get a kick out of the vibrant posters advertising events going on around town.

Frank and I arrived just in time for the Melbourne Arts Festival. The sixteen days of visual arts, music, dance and theatre featured over 100 events/performances (half of them free!) across 30 venues! From kidstuff to techno to classical to Indigenous and international, there was something for everyone. I especially loved the colorful art trams. Today, I spent part of the day hunting them down or “tram-spotting,” as Frank called it. They have a contest to pick your favorite. Which one would you choose?!