Part II of my long weekend in Melbourne
On our long-weekend in Melbourne, my friend Jane and I took the plane from Canberra to meet another friend Sandy. As we were landing I had lovely views of the countryside. I don’t know what the yellow fields were but they were stunning.We stayed at an apartment in the centre of Melbourne which was ideally located for walking around the city and we also had a nice little coffee/pastry shop next door along with views of the nearby buildings which looked so much better in the evening.One day we decided to walk to from our apartment to a nearby suburb to visit some local markets. As it was an hour walk we decided to wear our exercise clothing….a little later in the afternoon we wished we hadn’t…but more on that later.
We walked past some interesting buildings along the way; one with a huge naked baby on the front [little strange], some nice churches and lovely entranceways.We finally found the markets which were nearby a beautiful purple wisteria tree that covered the entire front and side of a building. We bought some lovely smelling candles and other small gifts and then then decided to walk back to our apartment and on the way stop at a couple of local bars or pubs for a glass of wine.Our first was a very interesting bar, plants on the roof, huge paintings on the walls and bright and colourful lights throughout. We sat at a gorgeous velvet covered lounge and enjoyed a glass of wine before we head off to our next stop.We then walked for about half an hour until we found our next location and along the way we also saw some great local artwork along the street; this is definitely a real funky suburb with fabulous shops.I even saw a print in a second hand shop, that my mum used to have in our home when we lived in Wales [all those many years ago].We walked past an amazing bar and we all wanted to stop here but unfortunately we couldn’t as it wasn’t yet open but the owner was very happy for us to take a look around…bright pink walls, gold framed pictures, velvet chairs and settees and mood lighting. The owner told us it’s best to book a table if we wanted to return as it’s always booked out each night.Our next stop was a local pub; not that interesting inside but good for people watching. We had a mineral water at this place followed by a glass of wine.After we left this pub, we thought we would walk straight to the apartment to rest up before going out to dinner. However we walked past the Sofitel Hotel and Jane mentioned to us that the bar was very good. I really didn’t want to go as we were in our exercise clothes but the girls said it didn’t matter [it did]…
I think the bar was on the 42nd floor from memory and when we arrived it was about 4pm and there was a table of beautifully dressed people drinking champagne. We thought they had been to a wedding and were waiting for the reception. We sat next to them and apologised to the waiter for our choice of clothing [he didn’t care].
We ordered some snacks [because they sounded great although we already had eaten] and a glass of wine. Jane’s funny story of the day was going to the bathroom and seeing one of the ladies from the table near us and thought her dress was beautiful, so said “I love your dress, you look beautiful’ to which the lady said she was appreciative then Jane said to her [mindful she is in exercise gear] ‘bet you are thinking the same thing about me’ … the lady had a good laugh…as did we when we were told the story.
Jane said the bathrooms in the Sofitel are gorgeous; they have views overlooking the city – guess five star hotels can afford to have this.
steveo said:
The fields: most likely rapeseed plants used for cooking oil. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed.
Second guess would be milo (sorghum).
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Emma Cownie said:
That naked baby on the side of the buildinmg was pretty freaky (but good in an arty way).
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isabelle said:
What a wonderful journey! Thank you for sharing. Plenty of interesting details.
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Sophie said:
So nice to read again about your local adventures!
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Little Miss Traveller said:
What a lovely description of your day out, it was so funny reading about wearing the fitness clothes in the Sofitel bar. It made me laugh whilst tucking into scrambled eggs on toast for a late breakfast in a nice pub with my husband and older son. M.
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sileas said:
I’ve heard so many good things about Melbourne and your photos just confirm what a nice city it must be… I love how you keep in touch with your friends and keep visiting each other 🙂
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kasiawrites said:
I have always wanted to visit Australia! Love seeing your photos of different parts 😁🙌🏼
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JohnRH said:
Yeah, ditto on rapeseed. I’ve seen a lot of these fields in Germany.
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Lyn Douglas said:
That sounds like a great day out. Love days like this in Melbourne
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Ah yes certainly could be tapered or sorghum. I recall those fields in China thanks Steveo.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you very much Isabelle. You are most welcome.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks Sophie.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks M. Nice to hear about your breakfast with family. I feel honoured to be ‘part’ of that.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks Julia. I do maintain strong friendships especially as we are mostly single at the moment so it’s wonderful to have good friends to do things with.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you. Do hope you make it here one day.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks too John. Makes complete sense looking at them on the net and having seen them before as mentioned.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
So great aren’t they Lyn!!
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luciaandclara said:
That naked baby was indeed strange? Was it a prop shop?
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
I don’t think so. But not really sure. We didn’t cross the road to see but it was a very different street with lots of interesting things. Great though.
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Amy said:
Thank you for the tour, Sue! Melbourne looks like a fun place to spend a long weekend. Great photos. 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks very much as always Amy. You always leave a lovely compliment.
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reocochran said:
Such beautiful sights and many interesting stories to share, Sue. Exercise clothing goes fairly well in most settings except as approaching dinner hour and later. . .
The last photo and the church were my favorites! I also liked the comparison of day and agree night cityscape looked stunning! (and better than the day one, although pretty clouds.) Smiles, Robin
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thanks Robin. Agree about exercise gear.
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reocochran said:
So glad you agree! You’re welcome to my comments. 😊
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vinneve said:
I like Melbourne and the place is memorable to me. Good to see other places from this post that I haven’t been yet.
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Lignum Draco said:
Haha. Exercise clothing in the Sofitel! Considering that’s a 5 star, I’m surprised they let you in. 🙂 It sounds like you had a great day. I spent a whole day in Fitzroy going from cafe to cafe (I had a list) and photographing the street art. So much to see there.
Did you go to Lune Croissanterie in Fitzroy? – described by the New York times as the best croissants in the world. Also try Naked for Satan next time you’re in Fitzroy.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Yep…I wouldn’t have let us in!!! We went to Naked for Satan. Great place. Thanks for tip about croissant hadn’t been there.
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