Wow! That’s the first thing that came out of Tom’s mouth when we got to our hotel room in Melbourne. Robin scores again – confirming that finding great accommodations is her super power. (One of them anyway!) We were on the 27th floor of the Jazz Corner Hotel (named for Bird’s Basement, a below-ground jazz club), with stunning views of downtown Melbourne, and close to pretty much everything we wanted to check out – St. Kilda, the Laneways, and the Queen Victoria Market. We even had a washer/dryer in the unit – very important when traveling light.
And, we got the room with AmEx points – so, even better.
After a busy travel day, we decided to hit Bird’s Basement for the early show and have dinner there as well. The star of the evening’s entertainment was the chef, who turned out a really great meal. Rob ordered the gnocchi, which was the best ever. Dreamy creamy doesn’t begin to describe it…but it’s all we’ve got.
We finally started adjusting to the time zone, and slept in a bit. A nice change from popping awake at 5 or 5:30 a.m. We hit the amazing Queen Victoria Market, with Instagram-worthy (if we did Instagram) scenes of food and goods. The best part is that is is only about two blocks away, so we didn’t have to limit our visits to just one time. Because we have a small kitchen, we picked up groceries for a couple of meals so we could enjoy the aforementioned views and sunsets.
The market outing turned into a full day of just walking, exploring the downtown with super-crowded streets (happens in a city of 5 million). The Laneways were a lot of fun, running across some crazy graffiti and narrow alleyways of bars and cafes.
We also got in a bike ride over to the St. Kilda neighborhood, which turned out to be a great way to see some more out-of-the-way corners of the city en route we might otherwise have missed. On our return journey through Albert Park (site of the Australian Grand Prix), however, we ended up pedaling into gale force winds – seems when we adventure on two wheels, such things happen. Rob got an eye-full of blowing debris – not a good match for contact lenses. (Bleh, she likely scratched her eye so she’s back to glasses for a few days).
We haven’t mentioned it enough yet, but the Australians we meet are really some of the nicest folks. Regrettably, I didn’t get the chap’s name, but when I asked the guy at the bike shop where I could by a screw driver (to repair my computer), he dug around in his tool box and gave me one of his. I offered to buy it, but he wouldn’t have it, saying he had another one at home. Just one example of the hospitality we have been shown by pretty much everyone in Australia.
I’m happy for you guys! What an awesome adventure! Love the blogs.