Saturday in Melbourne started off with a beautiful sunrise. My ‘bedroom’ is the living room on a very comfortable air mattress. We slept with the patio door open, we’re on the 14th floor, and I woke up around 5:00. The sky started turning a deep red then kept turning to a brilliant red and finally the rising of a red sun around 6:30. Kevin had gotten up by then, so we watched the end of it together. Then the sun started heating up the living room so we had to close the door.
It is very hot in Melbourne and will be so tomorrow. Today we had plans to meet Colin and Nic for lunch at a restaurant called Mrs. Parma’s in the Central Business District. Since the apartment started heating up around 8:00, Kevin called Colin and told him that wen he got off the train to call and we would meet him at SouthGate (the river area) for coffee. We all met up around 10:15 and went to Rive Gaucho’s. I had a very strong ‘Long Coffee’, Joe had a cold water, Kevin passed and Colin had a coffee, but they put the wrong milk in so he didn’t drink much.
The day was heating up so we had to come up with some way to stay cool until lunch. Kevin remember that the 109 tram is new and the cars are air conditioned. So, we jump in one and rode it to the dock / port area and then back to the CBD. I enjoyed seeing the area and having Colin along was great because he added a ‘native narrative’ to the journey.
We still had some time to kill so we went into one of the arcades areas. These are just what they call little malls or buildings full of different shops. We found Haig Chocolate and Colin and I just had to try one. Very tasty, plus we all got a sample of their dark chocolate. It was now time to meet Nic for lunch so we headed to Mrs. Parma’s. This restaurant / pub specializes in making many different kinds of parmesans like chicken, veal and eggplant. I had the Mexican chicken and it was very good. The serving was huge. Everyone’s parma covered almost the entire plate. Plus, they served a very large bowl of salad and chips. We couldn’t eat it all…there was a bit of salad left.
We wanted to visit a bit more so we decided to walk to a coffee place. As you can see in the photographs, this is the Theatre District. They have a few popular shows open, or will be opening soon. We stopped at a place called the Espresso Bar and had some cold drinks. We visited for awhile and about 3:30, Nic headed home and the rest of us jumped on the 109 again and took it to the other end of the line. This trip was very nice as it went through 3 or 4 different suburbs. They were older and very interesting. They were developed in the late 1800’s and there were many brick and wood Victorian homes. You could tell that they were old and in poorer neighborhoods because the houses looked like they needed some repair. Quite a few were well maintained and were beautiful. There were some very impressive churches along the way as well. Unfortunately, the windows in the tram were not conducive to photos, so I didn’t take any. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
We rode the tram to the Casino stop where we got off and went inside. It was nice and cool there. Joe, Kevin and I decided to do a bit of gambling. Joe and I wish we would have just gone home. I don’t know how Kevin did. He was/is gaming when we got to the apartment so I haven’t had the chance to talk to him. He’s gaming with another friend from work, also called Colin. It’s apparently a common name here in Australia.
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer than today, so we are going to have to get out of the apartment again. Stay tuned to see what we do/did.
