[tayser]

Winter's just around the corner, was a nice arvo of 20 degrees...

 

[taal]

Amazing pictures! See that's one thing about Toronto I find ... if you compare it to other similarly sized cities (can be slightly smaller or larger really) the one thing you'll notice right away is how much grittier Toronto is ... that's not to say other cities don't have grittier areas ... I really wonder hooronw Tto and clean were ever put in the same sentence.

Most of these other cities have these *refined* polished districts .. OK, Toronto is getting one now on Bloor but for other similar cities this has existed in spades.

btw this isn't a rant against Toronto ... I've been to many of these places, and I still find Toronto has the most interesting variety of neighborhoods in terms of their shopping / composition / feel - but not architecture - so it's not necessarily a bad thing more of an observation.

Curious why though, maybe it has more to do with the sheer amount of people who live in the downtown area (not visit, but live) compared to most of these cities.

 

[Mustapha]

Wonderful shots. The blonde at the cafe table likes you.

 

[ganjavih]

Great tour, tayser. Melbourne looks like a pretty happenin' place. And I agree, Toronto could learn a thing or to about how to handle streetscapes.

 

[TheProfessor]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Seeing these only makes me want to visit Australia more than I already do.

 

[junctionist]

Melbourne looks like a great city that I'd like to see one day. I love the wide sidewalks and tree-lined streets. The public realm looks quite polished and Federation Square looks great.

 

[Peepers]

Great pics! Melbourne really puts Toronto to shame for the reasons noted above - PUBLIC REALM ! Melbourne has a European feel with the attention paid to its sidewalks (lots of granite it seems) and streets (lots of cobble stone I notice). I didn't see any dissipated buildings like those that line our main tourist street (Yonge) . Of course they have an advantage in that they do not have to deal with the destructive forces of Winter but I think we can and should do better in Toronto.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Fascinating shots, Tays. Melbourne looks like the ideal city to me: a North American (ie: varied but organized and refined) skyline, European sensitivity to the public realm, Asian street-level vibrancy, a transit system that doesn't look like a utilitarian government liability, etc.

 

[kettal]

Melbourne CBD was at one time filthy and abandoned, but they have since turned it around. Now it is like Toronto run by the Swiss.

 

[ceaz40]

I have friends from Melbourne who love to come up to Toronto and visit every year.....ironically, they say that Toronto reminds them of Melbourne very much.

 

[JasonParis]

A lot of people say that. I see it in some of the pictures (although not really in the ones above), but the particularly vibrant streets with the 2-3 level brick streetwall and the tram tracks everywhere are somewhat Torontoesque.

Something like this for example...