Synagogue

 This is sort of a companion to my post about the Sunshine Mosque.  When we first came to Melbourne I thought the imposing building on the corner of Toorak and St Kilda Roads was the Shrine.  Then I out where the Shrine actually was and that this building was the Toorak Synagogue.  Getting into the place for a look round involved some administration which I didn't fancy, but a concert was advertised with no administration required (other than that of Westpac and Mastercard).  So we signed up.

It was a little amusing that the by chance the concert followed a pro-Palestine demo coming down St Kilda Rd (see later section of this post).   We dodged the crowd returning from the US Consulate to town by walking up Fawkner Park.  There was a minimalist security check (Frances had to open her handbag, but they didn't inspect my walking stick - I guess they aren't fans of Frederick Forsythe) but in we went.

The music was a piano performance by Alexander Gavrylyuk and was very enjoyable covering works by Mozart, Chopin and Liszt.  When we first arrived the piano was playing itself: the 'host' explained it was a Steinway costing $380,000.  The host spoke more than was needed and included a Q&A session, which was rather tedious especially since the microphone system was not clear.

Here are some images of the building:

We walked back via the Park and as we got into the apartment noticed a little weather incoming.

5 minutes later it bucketed down dropping about 4mm at Olympic Park in not very long.