Because I am the luckiest girl in the world (there must be no other reason) mon amour surprised me with a trip to Melbourne for the weekend. Up until we arrived at the airport I had no idea where we were going but, to be honest I did have a wish list and Melbourne was at the top, so you can imagine how overjoyed I was when the cat was finally let out of the bag. Well, as overjoyed as you can get at 3:30 am when you haven’t arrived at that hour by partying all night long.
In any case, after an uneventful flight we arrived in Melbourne and made our way to the Intercontinental…which was another surprise because it’s not the sort of place we normally stay in. We’re more your boho or b&b type but who’s complaining? Not me.
As we were waiting for our room to be ready we walked around the block and ended up on the other side of the Intercontinental and their very cool and inviting cafe which was packed with beautiful young people. We had another breakfast because the first one seemed like hours ago and soaked up the atmosphere and did some really good people watching. Back in the lobby who should show up but Severine and Chiara! Another trick up my baby’s sleeve. Nico, Sev and Chiara were going to spend the weekend with us!
We spent the rest of the day walking around with Sev and Chiara, having lunch with Nico who was in Melbourne for work, and then doing a little bit of exploring on our own. It’s easy to say we fell in love pretty much immediately and who couldn’t? The architecture was so interesting and beautiful. The little galleries filled with tiny, quaint and cozy cafes and gorgeous boutique shops were a huge draw and made us feel like we were in Europe. The streets were vibrant and filled with people and the whole placed seemed to buzz with excitement.
Later that night we went to have dinner with Nico, Sev, Chiara and some more friends…Mike and Clem and their son Gaspard who came over from Sydney, Edourd and Candice who just moved to Melbourne, and Mike’s friend Frederick. Dinner was at a place called European and the place was a small, warm, and European style cafe. The food was absolutely delicious and the service was incredible…something we’re dearly missing in NZ.
Saturday was another day of exploring and Nico, Sev, Chiara, Seb and I set off on the trams for St Kilda. St Kilda was nice but reminded me a lot of the little beach towns in NZ with it’s one street of shops of cafes. After a good lunch Seb and I set off to explore again, this time walking through neighborhoods to check out the architecture of the houses. So many styles, lots of interesting roof peaks, but tiny yards. I loved to walk through all the leaves that had fallen and it reminded us of autumn as kids when we both lived in countries that didn’t have evergreens everywhere. We stumbled upon a tiny boutique along the way where we found a housewarming gift for Candice and Edourd as well as a welcome mat for ourselves. Because you just can’t find a good welcome mat in NZ!
Saturday night was party time and Seb and I took off in a taxi bound for the Candice and Edourd’s before we realized we’d be going nowhere fast due to a traffic jam, at which point we ditched the taxi and jumped on a tram. Despite bad directions from the concierge we finally managed to find their place…a three story loft in an old chocolate making factory! We met up again with Mike and Clem and a friend from Seb’s past, Fabrice showed up too.
Sunday morning we set off with Clem to explore the Fitzroy area which soon became our favourite area. It has a bohemian feel to it with lots of cool shops, thrift stores and cafes. We spent the better part of the morning going from store to store before we met up with the friends at a cafe for brunch. It was great to get everyone again one last time before we had to head back home and it was sad to leave but we know we’ll be back soon. It’s all we talked about for the next week. Melbourne we ♥ you.
