To Melbourne we go!

Setting two alarm clocks to wake up at 4am on a Saturday morning, I'm thinking, what am I doing???  Have I gone a bit "crazy" to plan this weekend trip to Melbourne and maximising our time by catching the 6.15 am plane to arrive there in time for breakfast.  Have I gone cuckoo??  I told my girlfriend to stop me next time I suggest such an early flight after a long week of work.

My prebooked cab promptly arrived just before 5am.  By this time, I was already fully awake and starting to feel excited about this trip.  With adrenaline starting to pump, it didn't take us long to arrive at the airport.  Lo and behold, we were not the only crazy people - the airport, Terminal 2, was already full of people, couples, families, teams wearing the same T-Shirts getting in line to go through airport security.  The queue was long at 5.30am but there was excitement in the air.  Blurry eyed though we were, we got through security and headed straight to our gate which, by the time we had our loo stop was already boarding.

The Virgin flight we took that morning was full, there were groups of friends in their favourite Grand Prix gear chatting happily away.  After an uneventful trip, we finally landed in Melbourne, hooray!  We joined the throngs of visitors who were there that weekend, either for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, the Grand Prix, The Comedy festival or CATS.  I was so disappointed that Sydney did not have the same vibe as Melbourne had on this weekend.

We took a cab to Travelodge Docklands which had just been opened.  The Travelodge was clearly full as we could not check in as expected.  We left our bags and headed off for breakfast. 

As we didn't have much time and with fluid plans, we decided to checkout Fitzroy.  Fitzroy, I have been told, is the equivalent to our Sydney Newtown.  We bought the day pass for the tram ($6.50) and waited for the tram to Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.  Not knowing where to stop, we decided to stop as soon as we saw some shops.  Most of the shops were still closed but we decided to check out some of the shops to check out later.  I had read about this cafe Via Volare and decided to go there for breakfast.

We definitely saw a few interesting shopfronts... and street chairs.

"Penang Affair" caught our eye - here?  In Fitzroy?  The menu looked authentic enough... maybe to KIV for our next trip.  We saw Via Volare across the road and headed there.  Via Volare is an art deco, corner cafe with an interesting statue perched next to it.  Ravenous, we decided on the big breakfast which gave you the 3 options with any choice of eggs.  The baked beans was not canned and nicely cooked with herbs.  The Turkish bread was toasted to perfection - crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.  Totally delicious!

Stomach totally full, we continued with our walk and checked out some jewellery shops.  As we were strolling, we were over taken by a couple.  They were in a hurry to queue in this Russian cafe, Babka Bakery Cafe.  Curious as to why there was a queue in this small cafe, we went in to check out.  The hot cross buns looked enticing with a nice gloss over it.  Too bad our stomachs could not fit in another morsel.  This bakery was nevertheless very very popular.  While having breakfast, we could see people passing by with loaves and trays of bread,  Now I know where they came from!  The breakfast menu looked enticing - definitely to KIV for next trip!
       
Rose Street Artist Market is on every Saturday and Sunday.  We had to walk past walls with graffitti to find this market.  Small but interesting, this market features Melbourne's emerging artists and designers every weekend.  We happened to be standing around this clothing stall and was listening to this lady explaining her skirt.  She was very passionate about her designs as she was a costume designer for musicals.  Her designs seek to accentuates a woman's back as she felt that a woman has good looking backs.  Her skirts were designed in such a way that they would hide the "bulge".  A lady was trying it on and it looked good on her and my friend decided to try it too.  It looked good on her and she decided to buy the skirt.  This other lady then tried on a wrap dress and the way Sunchana, the designer, described it, I just had to try it on!  It was made of wool and the cut was really lovely.  A few dollars poorer but happier, we left her stall...  By the way, we had to come back to this market again later in the day as my friend decided to buy this wrap dress too....  This Artist market is interesting and we were serenaded by a live band.  This market also features artists / photographers, jewellers... all very artistic and clever with their design.

After buying a couple of things from the market, we had to move on...  Along the way, we stopped by an eco-shop, beauty shops, Japanese paper shop, kitchen wares and boutiques.  We came back to one of the colourful shopfronts we had seen earlier - Jasper Coffee.  The front of the shop stocks all the Easter chocolates and bunnies and further down the back, there was a good selection of coffee beans surrounded by shelves of homewares.  People were coming in to purchase the coffees and the barista was forever busy.  Tucked away in this shop, along a corridor were some tables for sit down coffee.  We decided this was a good place to rest our weary legs.

Brunswick Street was a lot of fun - interesting shops to look at and nice cafes.  The Little Creatures Dining Hall looked busy and interesting but we didn't venture in (have to save it for our next trip). 

Places to KIV for next visit are Gertrude and Johnson Streets and amongst them:
For food

• Cavallero
• Cutler & Co
• Gigibaba, Ismail Tosun's Turkish tapas are turning heads
• The Commoner, a Gertrude Street favourite

Specialty Stores

• Books for Cooks

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy equivalent to Newtown, Sydney...?  I think not... Fitzroy has a "smogasboard of experiences... with flavoursome delights for the tastebuds and cultural nourishment for the soul."