From our home in Melbourne, we can walk into the city. It's not far and the fastest way is through the Botanical Gardens. We left about 9 A.M. It was a clear, sunny day with the promise of a breeze and temps around 80, just the kind of day where you can keep going and going.
The Gardens were beautiful, rivaling, no, surpassing Central Park. They were surely not as big, but they were densely planted with different types of gardens, well marked. There were lakes and amphitheaters, summer outdoor cinemas screening The Suffragette and great looking cafes. Not sure if we were just slow because we were enjoying the stroll but it took us about 25 minutes or more to cut through and get across the Yarra River to the CBD.
The riverfront is so well planned and developed....just like Philly, ha, ha, HA, HA! We headed down the stairs for a coffee/ brekky stop along the water and saw the river boats, just waiting for cruisers. I probably should have been born under the sign Aquarius for as much as I love to be on the water, so we booked what I knew would be a silly tourist cruise up to the big Harbor and back. It was only an hour and was mostly to see the city from the river perspective.
The bridges, both car and pedestrian, cris-cross the river from the Southbank to the CBD with diverse and sometimes slightly crazy architecture. If we were here for a month, I would love to walk over each one!
And the entire hour was a grand ride viewing amazing buildings and just life in Melbourne. The riverfront is not only residential and tourist development but things that real people who live there need. We floated by gyms and laundries, bars and flats. We saw The Docklands, reclaimed land that has been the breeding ground for hip high rises and even some new low flats....recently selling for $6.5 Million AUD or just under $5 Million U.S.
And the entire hour was a grand ride viewing amazing buildings and just life in Melbourne. The riverfront is not only residential and tourist development but things that real people who live there need. We floated by gyms and laundries, bars and flats. We saw The Docklands, reclaimed land that has been the breeding ground for hip high rises and even some new low flats....recently selling for $6.5 Million AUD or just under $5 Million U.S.
Our day today was a bit reminiscent of our Grand Euro trip, which means we walked our feet off around a great, fun city. We started in the annex of the main art gallery, then an Aboriginal art exhibit and then off to Flinders Lane for shopping, food, window shopping and more food.
The architecture is wonderful, from Federation Square to the Docklands. And although our first museum stop was only the annex to the BIG NVG, with less than an hour to walk through, we of course found some great paintings....all Aussie artists, whom we had not known before. It is really amazing how our museums at home think it is only worth collecting US, French, Italian and Spanish art.
We moved through the day eyeing and spying new things and old.
We found alleyways of graffiti in areas designated by the city that allow street artists to show off their style, more Asian photo shoots, always with the girl in red and sometimes the boy dressed quite natty, and pastry shops with windows and lines out the door like the best patisserie.
The city is replete with hidden lanes and covered arcades, one of which enticed Steve enough to stop for a haircut; he was getting a bit bushy looking.
We found alleyways of graffiti in areas designated by the city that allow street artists to show off their style, more Asian photo shoots, always with the girl in red and sometimes the boy dressed quite natty, and pastry shops with windows and lines out the door like the best patisserie.
The city is replete with hidden lanes and covered arcades, one of which enticed Steve enough to stop for a haircut; he was getting a bit bushy looking.
A tram ride, a drink at a Docklands cafe, more food and finally a taxi home. We had two amazing unplanned meals today. The first at SuperNormal, a great, funky Japanese tapas style places suggested to us by our hostess.
You wouldn't think a place with a name like that could be successful, would you? Except the only other places I have ever been with similar names (Burmese Superstar in the Richmond section of San Francisco and the hair salon Superstar in Paris) were also incredible. Guess it is an Asian thing to want that kind of name.
We had four small but scrumptious dishes beginning with crispy rice cakes in chili oil and sesame.
Steve thinks he has seen these types of rice cakes in the markets at home so we will be searching them out and making our own. A little salad ( we never eat enough salad when traveling as most other countries never consider this a meal or main course), veggie dumplings and some raw Sea Bream with toasted nori and julienned radish. Just enough to tide us over to the next meal.
Steve thinks he has seen these types of rice cakes in the markets at home so we will be searching them out and making our own. A little salad ( we never eat enough salad when traveling as most other countries never consider this a meal or main course), veggie dumplings and some raw Sea Bream with toasted nori and julienned radish. Just enough to tide us over to the next meal.
Speaking of Asian, we could be wrong but, as Chinese as Sydney was, Melbourne feels much more Japanese. And that may be a good way to describe the differences in the cities to some extent. Melbourne seems to have captured the market on the beautiful people and also young girls in very tight, very skimpy clothes. The boutiques are hip and hipster.
And there are a million stores you just want to pop into from bakeries to jewelry to spices to clothes. Every street has a million hidden lanes and shopping arcades to find that surprise you. You could shop all day but we didn't want to spend it all the first day on Flinders Lane.
We hear there are great things happening on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy and the shops on Chapel in South Yarra deserve a few of our tourist dollars as well.
And there are a million stores you just want to pop into from bakeries to jewelry to spices to clothes. Every street has a million hidden lanes and shopping arcades to find that surprise you. You could shop all day but we didn't want to spend it all the first day on Flinders Lane.
We hear there are great things happening on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy and the shops on Chapel in South Yarra deserve a few of our tourist dollars as well.
Dinner found us falling into Coda, after being rejected at Movida, sitting at the bar for some small plates. All was delicious but one dish was outstanding. It was a Petuna ocean trout done like a gravlax, but in Aperol, which in and of itself sounds pretty good. But add in the creme fraiche sorbet, the caviar, the pickled beetroot, and mint leaves and wow! This will definitely be something I will try to recreate at home.
We did cave in and taxi back home around 9 P.M. Giving in to our sore feet to do some wash and plan tomorrow. We have three more days to explore Melbourne and eat great food and I already can tell....it won't quite be enough.
Comments
Post a Comment