Afternoons & nights in Melbourne

With a title like this, this blog post should be more exciting. But the second halves of our days in Melbourne weren't too eventful - they usually revolved around a nap for cold-stricken Holly. =) We did get out a little bit though.

On Tuesday night, we headed out for dinner. We didn't feel like going too far, but I managed to find a sushi and noodle place that was still open nearby. Well, it was kind of open. They told us "sushi finished!!" but they did sell us "very special" sushi for $10. It was clearly the last seaweed rolls of the day, but I went for it and they cooked Holly some noodles. It wasn't very confidence-inspiring, but it turned out to be really good!

All that was left after we bought the "special sushi;" they tried to give it to us when we left.

During Holly's nap on Wednesday, I went out walking. High on my list of things to explore in Melbourne were the laneways near Flinders Street Station. It would have been more fun with Holly and I was pretty sad she wasn't with me, but I was happy to have a quick ramble so I could mark those off my list!

There were tons of cute cafes tucked into alleys

This amazing little shop, Laurent Patisserie, had a cake called "Christine."

I also strolled through the Block Arcade, which was a beautiful building with some great shops.

Including this bakery that looked too over the top to be real. Not surprisingly, there was a line out the door.

Too bad I don't have a bottomless stomach and could have tried something at every place I saw!

We closed out our Wednesday evening with a walk up to the Greek precinct for dinner. Overall, the Greek precinct was a little bit of a let-down, since it seemed to be just one side of a city block with 3 Greek restaurants and a Greek bakery.
Both our appetites were a little off, so we voted to just eat a slice of spanakopita at the Greek bakery, rather than a full meal at one of the restaurants. The bakery looked pretty impressive, with rows and rows of cakes and pastries. However, there were no Greeks to be seen eating or working there - just some Chinese girls behind the counter. Our spanakopita was just alright and the two desserts we tried (semolina cake and kantaifi) were pretty good but not amazing.

Lesson learned: for the best experience, eat where the plump Greeks are eating!

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Melbourne morning II

Day 2 in Melbourne started off with a lazy, sleeping-in morning. There were no gourmet breakfasts for the day either; instead, it was yogurt, tea, and cold medicine for Holly. =(

However, she rallied late morning and decided a walk along the Yarra Riverfront would be just the thing to make her feel better.
So we caught the City Circle trolley to head down to the water. There was a minor hiccup when the trolley turned an unexpected direction, so we hopped off at the next stop and crossed the street to get the trolley back from the other side. A few minutes later, the exact same trolley came back and we got on it! The driver gave us a weird look, but we headed off in the right direction!
We both agreed that the waterfront area was one of our favorite places in Melbourne.

There's a nice wide walking path that goes between restaurants, hotels, and apartments and the river.

And some cool art pieces.

There was also this really cool restaurant in the middle of the river that you got down to from the bridge.

I'm not sure if the river is always this brown and muddy, but it was definitely not the prettiest river I've ever seen.

One of my favorite things I saw on the walk was this pigeon house. I know that sounds dumb but I thought it was so funny! The city built it to try and keep the pigeons from roosting and pooping everywhere else. There were a lot of pigeons home when we went by!

We kept the walk short since Holly was getting tuckered out. A quick trolley ride back to the hotel, then it was nap time for one of us!

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Melbourne morning I

On Tuesday morning, Holly and I got up bright and early to catch a flight to Melbourne. It was rough getting up at 4, but on the plus side, it meant we were in Melbourne and ready to explore by 9 AM!

After dropping our bags at the hotel, we made breakky the number one priority. Luckily, we only had to cross the street to stumble across some amazing food! Holly had sautéed mushrooms on sourdough with a poached egg, and I had an equally delicious plate of corn and cilantro fritters with avocado mousse. Mmmm! Power food!

The city circle trolley was cute as a button!

Then it was off to catch the free city circle trolley to take us down toward Flinders Street, the heart of Melbourne tourism. We actually got thrown for quite a loop because the trolley line is in the center of the street; so that means you have to stand on a little island between the lanes of traffic to catch the trolley. Needless to say, we crossed the street back and forth a couple times before we figured out this was the case and then worked out the nerve to camp out in the middle of the street.
It was also actually really informative, too, as it has a recording that describes the areas you're passing. Holly and I had planned to work our way back toward the hotel through the more direct streets, but we saw so many things we wanted to check out on the trolley ride that we decided to retrace our trolley route instead.

Excited to be on the trolley!

First, though, we had to check out Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. These are in all the travel books as the "iconic" things to see. It was a cool area, but ended up probably not being the favorite part of the day.

Before we headed back on our winding route to the hotel, we also walked through St. Paul's Cathedral. It was amazing and lovely inside - but no pictures!

We backtracked along Flinders St until we hit Treasury Gardens. The sun was beaming down - perfect garden weather!

At that point, we joined up with Spring Street and then detoured over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We were allowed to take pictures inside this one.

A quick detour through the Carlton Gardens and by the Royal Exhibition Building...

And then we decided to make our way back to the hotel to rest our feet. However, on our way, we crossed Lygon St, which we'd been told has a huge variety of eateries. This was not an exaggeration!

We came across a restaurant called Pasta Rustica, which had a board listing about 10 different types of house-made soufflés. Including a Nutella soufflé. Such a thing cannot be passed by.
So we had a bite of bruschetta, some bubbles, and then capped it off with the best soufflé either of us have ever had!
You really can't top a morning/afternoon like this!

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A note from TN Girl #2

On Monday, the activities coordinator had to go to work so I was forced to fend for myself. I woke up to an email from Tieeney saying, "Don't forget to take pics today! The blog post is counting on you!" No pressure.

I enjoyed a leisurely Monday morning which started off with Skyping with Scott (and Hudson). After that I took off to go exploring in Lavendar Park. It was another beautiful sunny day in Sydney and the park offered some lovely views of the bay.

I came across some rainbow lorikeets eating breakfast in the park.

Then I wandered back over the harbor bridge to the CBD to meet up with Tieeney for lunch. There are no pictures from this part of my day as I was mostly focused on navigating my way through the CBD to Tieeney's office. I successfully made it to the Atlassian building and we headed to the QVB for lunch. After lunch we did a bit of shopping and then it was back to work for Tieeney. She gave me a quick tour of her office and I got to meet several of her coworkers, including Rufus.

Back in Milsons Point after lunch, I went for a run. I followed the same route that we walked the previous day across the bridge and around the Botanic Gardens. I was surprised at how quickly I reached the Botanic Gardens and Opera House considering our (my) pace from the previous day.

I never would have imagined that I would have views like this during a run!

More leisure time in the apartment after my run, and then Tieeney and Toby came home!

So yes, nothing too exciting happens when the activity coordinator is away.
I'll close with a couple observations from my brief time here so far.

1. In Australia you can buy small square foam mattresses. This one is roughly 5x5, perfect size for children or those of us who stopped growing as a child.

To maximize your legroom I recommend sleeping diagonally.

Also, this allows Tieeney to regulate who can stay over at their place - if you don't fit, you can't stay. (Just kidding!)


2.

Thank goodness we purchased the "tasty" variety!

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