A Tale of Two Cities

It's true, Melbourne does not have our beautiful harbour. Or our beaches. It does have the Yarra - in this pic we were having a coffee in a tiny cafe/bar at the base of a bridge pylon in the middle of the river, having already watched some rowers being shouted at by their cox ...

And some amazing buildings (The Forum).

And, as any Melbournian will tell you, the most incredibly cool selection of cafes, bars and restaurants crammed into the CBD. Melbourne is full of alleys and laneways, apparently about 180 of them just in the city centre. Instead of being built over in the process of modernisation, they've been retained, so there's a new surprise every few metres, it seems. I didn't take photos, but I did enjoy them ...

I didn't get to our hotel until about 2.30pm on Friday, so I only had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with Spouse. I got my bearings, checked out the shops and was forced to buy this skirt (because it was the last one and they took it off the mannequin for me and it looks lovely). Lord knows where I'll ever wear it.

That evening we had a post-work drink with a colleague of Spouse's at the famous Supper Club.  Spouse and I then strolled down to a nearby Szechuan restaurant where the decor was minimal, the service was dreadful (as in slow and inattentive rather than rude) and the food was brilliant. Yum. After dinner we snuck into one of the many hidden bars - down a laneway, no signage, not even a number. Service was of the 'oh goodness, it's such an imposition to have you people here' variety, but the wine was good and it was kind of fun. We were right up the top, up several flights of ricketty stairs, in a bar furnished and lit all in red, while below us was an absinthe green room absolutely heaving with people. I'm glad we weren't in there.

As Melbourne has the supremely sensible grid design for its streets, finding our way around was easy. First thing Saturday morning we walked up to the Queen Victoria Market, via a recommended cafe for excellent takeaway coffee, and admired the deli counters and fresh produce before grabbing a kransky with sauerkraut & mustard on a roll for breakfast. Then we headed down to the Yarra, spent a bit of time in the National Gallery of Victoria but were sadly a few days too early for the 'Man Style' exhibition that starts this month. More walking, then lunch at a cafe on the river, and there was just time for a stroll through town and some bookshops before we had to - reluctantly - head back out to the airport.

Footbridge leading back into CBD from the Yarra.

It's funny to think I was born there.