Written by Kim
One of our favorite things about traveling is catching up with friends around the world. I was very fortunate to meet many international colleagues during my career and do my best to keep touch with many. Uday, a SAP consultant at the time, and I worked together at both Roche and J&J. In fact, Uday, Renee and I were office mates sharing a single office when I first joined J&]. We enjoyed an afternoon of nibbles and beer playing trivia at a local pub. It was great to catch up and share memories (some of which I didn’t recall 🤨). Great to see you Uday it was such fun. We didn’t do great at trivia – we were in the middle of the pack which wasn’t horrible with all the Australian questions.
Our day started with a fantastic breakfast across the street at the market. It was a bit cool outside but the food was delicious.
We did another Voice Map self guided walking tour. This one was titled “Live Like a Local” so didn’t take us to historic sites but rather took us to alleys and interesting places to grab a drink, coffee, or meal. It did take us back to a few iconic stops too like Block Arcade that I told you about yesterday. It was a typical Melbourne day with all 4 seasons showing – we had umbrellas out then sunglasses throughout the walk.
We walked through a few alleys filled with coffee shops and cafes on De Graves & Center Place. They take coffee and cafes very serious here. They are everywhere.
The Royal Arcade is the oldest surviving arcade in Australia, known for its elegant light-filled interior, and the large carved mythic figures of Gog and Magogflanking the southern entry. It is right across the street from Myers.
Myer is an upscale department store similar to Saks in the US. Their flagship 7 story store is in the heart of Melbourne. The Myer retail group was founded by Sidney Myer, who migrated from Belarus to Melbourne in 1899 after the height of Victoria’s gold rush, with very little money and little knowledge of English to join his elder brother, Elcon Myer (1875–1938), who had left Russia two years earlier. They opened the first Myer store in 1900. They decorate their windows with Lego scenes for Christmas. It was a mob scene the lines to see the windows were about 5 blocks long but it was the weekend so we will check it out mid week to get a better (hopefully less crowded look).
You can find any high end store, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. you want on the “Paris end” of Collins Street
We saw some beautiful places and skylines too.
Melbourne’s East End Theatre District is home to six of the city’s most iconic theatres, all within walking distance of each other. Together they host world-class musicals, blockbuster plays, local and international live music, children’s shows, comedy, festivals, and special events. Annie, the first show I ever saw on Broadway with my Nana, is playing in the Princess Theater but we won’t have time to see it
After our walking tour we went back to the hotel to rest a bit but no trip is complete without one crisis. As we were relaxing the fire alarm went off in the hotel so we had to evacuate down 6 flights of stairs. No fire but it was pouring rain so we ran across the street to the market for a refuge.
We finished our night with some good Chinese food near our hotel. There is a very high Asian population so lots of Indonesian, Chinese, Vietnamese restaurants. We were the only non Asian people in this restaurant which was on a side street. The server asked how we found it and was intrigued by Americans coming here. lol
We had a good day in Melbourne. Over 17,000 steps wow! The tram wasn’t working right so we had to walk further than planned to meet Uday. Good for us. Today we will head out to a few nearby wineries. Until then…
