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Published: October 20th 2008
Desgraves Street
cafes, bars, and people in he Melbourne lane waysHi Everyone! We know it has been a while, but we are trying to quickly catch up on the blogging - its getting to be summer and we've been getting lazy with writing and promise to get better.
So at the beginning of September Heidi got a new work assignment in Melbourne. Luckily enough it worked out that she had to be there on a Friday and a Monday for meetings, and it turned out to be cheaper for her to stay for the weekend than pay for another round trip flight. SO - free weekend in Melbourne! Matt flew down for the weekend and we spent 2 days touring the city.
Melbourne is a much more 'city-like' city than Sydney. The downtown is planned on a grid which alternates between main traffic streets and smaller 'laneways'. These laneways are where the life is - lined with little coffee shops, cafes, shops, and you can find yourself stumbling upon a lot of really good restaurants. Melbourne has much more activity in the downtown CBD, whereas Sydney seems to be more about the outer suburbs. However, that’s not to say that Melbourne doesn't have some great city-limit areas as well.
We spent our first morning out in Fitzroy on Brunswick street, a funky shopping/eating district east of the CBD. A really fun area to walk around and browse the shops, and it also has some great brunch spots. (We ate a The Fitz which was fantastic). After being thoroughly stuffed with eggs Benedict, we made our way through the city, stopping at the old exhibition centre, and then on to the Queen Victorian Markets (huge market with meat, seafood, produce, live chicken and roosters, and load of random souvenir stuff). After a pick-me-up coffee we kept on to federation square...
Federation square is at the southern centre of the CBD, and is right next to the old Flinders street station. While the station is very traditional, Federation Square is a huge contrast - a very modern complex that houses the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Victoria (Australian Collection). After a good dose of modern and aboriginal art, we called it a day and treated ourselves to an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Longrain.
Day 2 consisted of a morning brunch trip to St. Kilda, Melbourne’s beach. Its not nearly as
scenic as the Sydney beaches, but it did have a similar 'Luna Park' boardwalk carnival place, and a lot of good restaurants. Definitely a good spot to explore for half a day. Unfortunately it was raining (typical Melbourne weather), so we didn't spend too long on the beach. However, the rain didn't stop us from going the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to catch an Australian Rules Football League (AFL) match. The state of Victoria (which Melbourne is in) is all about AFL footy, and doesn’t get too excited about Rugby. Sydney is the opposite. It was Heidi’s first AFL game and it was a great time - she found it much easier to follow than the other rugby matches we have seen. The stadium itself was impressive - the cricket field is huge and the round stadium holds up to 110,000 people!!!
All in all, Melbourne is a great city. Really easy to get around with a tram system, great food and drink, and tons of shopping. It's definitely not as scenic or laid-back as Sydney, but definitely a great place to spend a few days! We will be back there at the end of January for the Australian
Brucnh in Fitzroy
Eating outside at 'The Fitz' Open and can’t wait to explore even more.
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