Melbourne Cup

Off to the races (Me, Christabelle, and Melissa)

The day for the Melbourne Cup finally arrived. Mel (the girl I live with) and I got ready, and then Christabelle (the girl I work with) came over and met us. We took the bus, the tram, and the train to get to Flemington Raceway. We took lots of great pictures of ourselves. There were people packed in the train station. It was so fun seeing everyone dressed up. There were some really cool hats, but unfortunately I couldn't take very good pictures of them, without looking weird. I did get some though. The Melbourne Cup is on November 4 and its a state holiday. The Melbourne Cup is I believe the 6th race that day. People bring there picnic baskets, beer, and wine and sit on the lawn in between the races. Then we all gather to watch the race. There are lots of booths to place your bets at.

What better way to fill up time waiting for the bus than posing for the camera?

The Stables

An Official

one of the race horses warming up

Spectators at the Cup

Me and Christabelle

More spectators

The flower hat. You wouldn't lose her in a crowd

Aren't the roses beautiful?

Not to shabby of a looker!

Don't come unless your in high heels and a dress

We grabbed some lunch and then went by the stables. We watched the trainers walking around a small track to warm the horses up. We also had strawberries with ice cream. It was delicious, and made up for missing the strawberries and cream at Strawberry Days Rodeo this summer. As the day went on, people kept getting more drunk. It was fun watching the races and trying to guess which horse was going to win. I did not win though. Because our high heels were killing our feet, we ended up leaving the Melbourne Cup after the 6th and major race. The only thing we would have been missing, was a few more races, and drunk people puking everywhere. Which I was perfectly content with missing out on.

Waiting for the Melbourne Cup

Stands packed right before the big race.

And the race is on

There were some really interesting outfits going on. You should have seen some of the hats. Most of the fascinators were fairly conservative though. I mentioned that I was surprised the hats were not bigger and one reminded me that we are in a financial crises right now, and that the the hats and fascinators I saw in Meyer the department store ranged from $75-$1000. There were some interesting hats, but not quite like I had anticipated. Although there were a few that I couldn't help but stare at. One lady I saw on the train had a fascinator with all sorts of feathers coming out but also these balls, that looked like painted and designed Styrofoam balls. It was definitely an experience.

And the winner for the most atrocious hat is......