Melbourne Cup

Today was the Melbourne Cup, which is a horse race that happens every year on the first Tuesday in November. I didn't realize how excited people would get for it, but today as I was riding the train into work there were girls everywhere in really nice dresses and crazy hats headed into the city. They call it "the race that stops a nation" and it's pretty much the truth, because about ten minutes before 3:00 everyone quit working and went into the conference room. We had a bunch of snacks and cracked open some champagne to watch the race. People in Australia LOVE to gamble whether it's the pokies (slot machines), footy games or horse races, so everyone I work with spread out the little tickets they'd bought placing bets on various horses. The race started right at 3:00 and it didn't take long before the 3200 meters were finished. It was the closest finish in Melbourne Cup history, and after a few minutes of analyzing the photos, Dunaden was declared the winner. So his owner Sheikh Fahad of Qatar goes from being insanely rich to... richer. Anyways it was a pretty interesting day!