I was a little excited to finally be getting away for our week in Melbourne, so didn’t sleep as long as Debbie would have liked. We finished our packing and headed to the airport. Interestingly, the taxi company was offering a fixed fare of $38. So I wonder if they’ve worked out that competing with UBER is simply a case of competing, rather than complaining. It wasn’t all that early, but sitting in the lounge seemed to tire some people out completely!
Our flight boarded on time and I sat next to a young bloke who said he hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours in the last few days. He got to chatting and he was an Instrumentation Engineer for a gas company. He told me how his job had been largely devalued because electricians can now do a short course to get the same qualification he spent 4 years working towards. Once we took off he went to sleep and I tuned out to my Spotify playlist.
We caught a taxi from the airport to Fitzroy, but not quite to where we were staying, but there was a Latin American festival between us and our apartment.
After navigating the crowds, with bags, and a little creative walking we found the apartment. It is modern, clean and a little minimalistic, but will certainly do the job for the week. We’d organised to catch up with Todd and Amy for dinner, so we had a few hours to kill. We decided that a snack would be in order, so quickly found a local bar to grab a beer and a a platter. The food was very tasty, and it did leave us thinking that it would be difficult to find a platter as good as this in Brisbane at 3pm.
After a good wonder around the shops we caught a tram to the city to meet up with the ‘happy couple’, at Mrs Parmas, a Parmagiana restaurant. I can recommend the veal bratwurst one. Todd wasn’t very happy though… it seemed that the Bachelor Party the night before had taken it’s toll. He blamed the Bundaberg Rum. Full marks to him for making it to dinner and drinking a very manly looking Lemon Lime and Bitters. We discussed a few of the logistics for the week and of course the wedding itself.
One of the great things about being in Melbourne os that the sun sets much later and much slower, so the chances of taking cool photos in the streets and laneways are much better than the fast twilight of Brisbane. Here’s one in Little Bourke Street…
From the city it is about 4 tram stops, so it was an easy trip back. We’ve got a big day of shopping tomorrow and I seek to complete my wedding day ensemble with new shoes, a new shirt and a tie, but more about that later.
Until tomorrow!
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