Day 1
Anyone who knows me, knows that I HATE to fly. I love to travel and look forward to traveling to destinations that need to be reached by plane... but, I absolutely dread the time in the air. Because of this, even though it was only a 2 hour flight, I was completely drained by the time we checked into our hotel on Lygon Street. Ryan hurried off to work, and I spent the day close to the hotel browsing Lygon Street. Lygon Street is home to no fewer than 100 restaurant cafes and is considered one of the great food precints of Melbourne. It has its origins in the early imigration of Italian imigrants and for that reason Lygon Street has the biggest selection of Italian restaurants and cafes of anywhere in Australia. I headed staight to Brunetti, an iconic Italian pasticceria. Here you will find the most delicious treats you can imagine. Their food is art. We went to Brunetti twice in July and since then I've said, "I would travel to Melbourne just to go to Brunetti". After ordering a tomato and cheese croissant and flat white, I sat outside at a patio table and got my handy tour book out to map out my week of touring.
Lygon Street
After enjoying lunch at Brunetti, I headed back to the hotel to rest and wait for Ryan to get back from work. Once he was "home", we walked up Lygon Street to another cafe and ordered a ceasar salad and beers before walking a couple of blocks to the Royal Exihibition Building and Carlton Gardens. The Exhibition Building was finished in 1880 and is one of the world's oldest remaining exhibition pavilions. The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were inscribed on the World Heritage list in July 2004, becoming the first building in Australia to achieve World Heritage listing. It is a beautiful building and the gardens are well manicured.
Fountain in front of Royal Exhibition Building
Pond in front of the Royal Exhibition Building
Gardens in front of the Royal Exhibition Building
Day 2
Again, Ryan was off to work and I had the day to explore. I started the day by enjoying a breakfast of eggs on toast with a flat white at the University Cafe on Lygon Street. Getting around Melbourne is quite easy using the FREE tourist shuttle. The bus stops at key tourist attractions and destinations around the city. Onboard there is an informative commentary about the city's attractions and you can hop on and off at any of the 13 stops. Lucky for me, one of the stops is on Lygon Street. After breakfast, I jumped on the shuttle and headed to the Queen Victoria Market only two stops away. The Market is more than just Melbourne's shopping mecca - it is a hisoric landmark, a tourist attraction and an institution of Melburnians. It is spread over 17 acres selling everything from exotic Australian fruits and vegetables and local and imported gourmet foods to hardware, clothing and souvenirs. There are 1,000 traders who sell their goods in vast open-sided sheds. I ended up buying a new purse (Italian, of course) and three more sun dresses. In addition to Brunetti, The Queen Vic Market is one of my favorite places in Melbourne.
One of 30+ deli windows in the hall of delis
Another one of the many delis
One of 1000 trader stalls ~ this one is selling Aussie souvenirs
Before heading back to the hotel, I took the City Circular Tram, another free tourist tram, to a motorcycle shop in the heart of the city. A friend of Ryan's in The States needed a key to his Honda street bike and this motorcycle shop had the key he needed. As I write this, I am reminded that I still need to get to the post to mail the keys off to The States. Anyways, this motorcycle shop is unlike any shop I've been to back home. It is is a large two-story building that has KTM, Honda, Suzuki, Yamama, Ducati and Harleys all under one roof. A motorcycle lovers dream store. It not only had the bikes, but also all the parts and gear a rider could possibly need or want. After daydreaming about riding and window shopping in the gear section, I headed back to the hotel to meet Ryan for dinner. We walked up Lygon Steet to Papa Ginos where we were treated with the most delicious Italian dinner I think I've ever eaten. The garlic bread was focaccia style with melted cheese in the center and it melted in our mouths. With our bellies fat and happy, we walked back down Lygon Street and called it a night.
Day 3
I started the day at Cafe Trevi on Lygon street eating eggs benedict and drinking a flat white. After that, I again caught the Free Tourist Shuttle and took it one stop further than the Queen Vic Market to the Docklands. The Docklands has a comprehensive range of retail destinations, from high-end fashion outlets to discount shopping stores and cafes and it's all on the water's edge in open air spaces. After window shopping for awhile, I walked the waterfront promenade in search of a restaurant for dinner later.
View of the Docklands Stadium from the Harbour
After I got tired of window shopping, I caught the City Circle Trolley and visited the Parliament Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens, which are adjacent to eachother. The gardens are splendid and have plenty of things to see. I walked through the gardens for quite awhile taking pictures before settling into a garden cafe for a Stella Artois and a chance to read a few more chapters of my book.
Cook's Cottage
JFK Memorial
Lush path out of the garden toward the city
Rock Waterfall
Tropical Flower
Later that night, Ryan and I headed back to the Docklands for dinner at Berth where I, again, had a delicious meal of Kangaroo and potatoes with rasberry sauce . I think Australia might be the only country in the world that happily serves up it's National mascot. And I happily ate it! We shared a bottle of wine with dinner and watched the sunset over the harbour.
Day 4
One thing that I was disappointed about during my last trip is that I didn't get to see the Botanic Gardens in King's Domain. In Australia there are a lot of gardens and national parks. In addition to those spaces, each big city (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane...) has a big park similar to New York's Central Park. In July, we had walked much of King's Domain (the big park), but had not reached the southernmost edge where the botanic gardens are. So, I started my day grabbing a take-away flat white and walking a few blocks to catch the city circular tram. I took the tram to Southgate, which is the upscale part of Melbourne running along the Yarra River on the South side of the river. It's here that you can find The 3 Arts Centers, The Crown Plaza and many designer boutiques. I walked a few blocks along the river and decided on an outdoor cafe for lunch. I ate petit lobster sandwhiches and had a glass of bubbly, while I watched a bunch of business men in their suits eating fancy food and discussing business.
View from Southgate (and lunch) looking toward downtown
The Eureka Tower in Southgate... highest viewing platform in Southern Hemisphere
After people watching for awhile, I walked to the Tourist Shuttle stop and took the bus one stop to The Shrine of Remembrance in Kings Domain. The Shrine was completed in 1934 in memory of of the 114,000 Victorians (Melbourne is in the state of Victoria) who served in World War 1, of whom 19,000 died.
Walking up to the Shrine
The tombs under the Shrine...flag hidden by POWs during WW1
The Hall of Medals
From here, the Botanical Gardens are just a short walk away. The site for the gardens was chosen as early as 1845, and the garden was laid out with an incredible range of plants. Plants from all over the world thrive here, and there are more than 6,000 tree species. As you walk through the garden you come across The Australian Rainforest Walk, a rose garden, herb and succulent garden and fern gully. There are a number of buildings in the garden, which all compliment the plantings. I was overwelmed with the beauty of the garden, and I have decided that the next time I am in Melbourne, an entire day needs to be dedicated to walking through the garden since I only really just saw a fraction of it.
Just a few of the many pictures I took at the Botanic Gardens...
Day 5
On my last visit to Melbourne I bought a pair of Uggs at the Queen Vic Market. I paid only a fraction of what I would have paid in The States. My friend, Teresa, had mentioned wanting a pair of Lavender Uggs once. So, I decided to head back to the Queen Vic Market to find her a pair of size 6 tall Lavender Uggs. I grabbed a coffee from The University Cafe and caught the Free Tourist Shuttle on Lygon Street. The problem isn't finding Uggs at the Queen Vic Market, since there are many Ugg stalls at the Market. The problem is finding good quality, inexpensive Uggs that are the right size, height and color. I had seen a tall pair of Lavender Uggs on Day 2, but didn't buy them because I had wanted to email Teresa first and let her know how much they would be and see if she was still interested. Ironically, once I heard back from her and made it back to the Market, I found the same exact pair of Lavender Uggs right where I had left them. As I write this, they are on a plane heading to the US.
Later that night, Ryan and I took a taxi to The Crowne Plaza in Southgate. We ended up eating at a wonderful restaurant inside the Plaza called Waterfront Fish Market. I ordered grilled baramundi with scallops in a sweet and sour sauce and we split a bottle of Penfold's 76 Shiraz/Cabernet. It was delicious, but we made sure to leave room for dessert. On our way to dinner, we had passed a beautiful patisserie. We went back after dinner and got chocolate eclairs. After eating our eclairs, we walked home first along the river and then through China Town, another part of Melbourne that I had never seen.
Day 6
On our last day in Melbourne, we checked out of the hotel and headed across the river in search of a Belgian Beer Cafe. Ryan had been told that there was a 2nd one south of the Yarra River (we have visited the first one in the Eureka Tower in Southgate several times). We looked it up on the internet and then drove there for lunch. It shares a 19th century stone building with a School for the Blind. The beer cafe has a lage outdoor courtyard filled with 50+ picnic tables and another 2 stuctures that serve food and beer which is, I'm sure, helpful when the cafe is busy. On this day, there were only a handful of people there. Ryan and I found a picnic table under a tree and ordered beer and bratwurst for lunch.
After lunch, we drove to the airport and caught our plane back to Brisbane. It was a fantastic week in Melbourne. I got to see a lot of the things that I saw in July, but I also got to see some new and interesting things, as well!
