Last weekend was another first for me. I hopped on a plane to Melbourne, Victoria where I spent a couple happy days exploring in and around the CBD and consuming copious amounts of coffee.
I stayed in St. Kilda and took the tram into the inner city each morning, and in doing so felt just a teensy pang of homesickness. The busy city trams reminded me so much of the streetcars in Toronto (in the way they look and in how slowly they operate.. hah). So much in fact that I started catching glimpses of home everywhere I went.
It began at Federation Square, which is across the street from Flinders Street Station (the main public transport hub in Melbourne), and is home to galleries, restaurants, shops and all kinds of fairs and events. While I was there a crew was setting up a stage in the centre — an environmental awareness expo of sorts was on, with people giving seminars on living more consciously, promoting green products, companies, eco-tourism, and the like.
The place reminded me a bit of Yonge-Dundas Square, complete with crowds of tourists and shoppers, but with kangaroo sculptures. And minus the bright lights, people preaching loudly about religion on a corner, and the cold. 🙂
Fortunately I didn’t feel homesick for YDS and transitioned quickly back to Tourist Mode, taking more pictures than probably necessary while strolling through the square, along the Yarra River, to the State Library of Victoria, to the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum, to the Parliament Gardens, and finally Chinatown with many stops for coffee breaks, snacks, window shopping, sunscreen reapplication, and laughs at “foreign treats” in lolly shops (that would be candy stores) in between.
From what I saw of Melbourne in my short visit, it has the same sort of eclectic, artsy, hipster vibe that Toronto does in the city’s inner west: full of little coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. The only difference being that you would find the best of these places tucked away in alleyways that — and I quote an acquaintance that has been living in Melbourne for the past five years — “look like they harbour murderers and rapists”. I thought her description was surprisingly accurate as it was in a few of such alleyways I found some really fun places to grab tasty coffee, cool craft beers, or a bite to eat.
I could go on, but I think it’s time to let the pictures do the talking, or we’ll be here for a while.
A sweet print of a waterfront building covers the inside of this lift in a St. Kilda hotel.
As I’d arrived not long after the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations in the CBD, there were many decorations still up or (in case of these cheerful looking pandas) in the process of being torn down and put into storage.
Stopped at a coffee shop called Brother Baba Budan (359 Little Bourke St. — check it out!). Look up and there are heaps of chairs hanging from the ceiling. I forgot to ask why.
The remains of a shared 8Bit Burger meal. This pretty much sums up everything I ate in Melbourne. Too good. Gone too fast. Much deliciousness to be had.
Hopefully the first of many visits. Even if some Qantas planes lack the in seat entertainment I’m used to with other airlines. Is this even how you’re supposed to use it??
In summary:
Melbourne and Toronto could be related. Or at least BFFs with very similar tastes in public transit, hipsters, sketchy places, delicious food, and they both have beaches sorta near the city centre that are kinda, er… well they’re nothing like the beaches around Sydney, that’s for sure.
Differences include: the weather, the huuuge coffee culture in Melbourne (sorry Tdot, I love you but your coffee is just O-K), and the whole “other hemisphere” thing.
-C
