What do we at Madeleine’s miss when we leave Melbourne? Its coffee for sure!
And then there’s the Italian food in Melbourne (the Italian influence is strong in this city.)
Regularly topping lists of the world’s most livable city, Melbourne CBD has a “grid” system, with the “vertical” streets from the left (west) starting with “King” to “William” to “Queen” to “Elizabeth”, and with three major landmarks – Flinders Street station, the Fed Square complex and St Paul’s Cathedral – all at the Swanston x Flinders junction (and you can find both coffee and Italian food inside the Fed Square complex). One can’t miss Melbourne’s trams which ply the various vertical and horizontal streets in the grid and fan out to the suburbs in almost all directions.
And then, there’s the Yarra, the deep, muddy brownish waters of the great Yarra river. Yes – muddy brown is its distinctive colour (and enjoy the “dirt red” landscape too).
Learn to love the gum trees (known also as eucalyptus) and the hundreds of species native to the continent, especially their peeling bark, distinctive smell, and medicinal properties, and if not for this, at least because they provide the habitats for that favourite Australian object of affection, the koala!
Remember: you are in the “southern hemisphere” which means summer is winter and winter is summer, Christmas is not “white”, rather, you are likely to get some rather dry and hot days in December and January, and football is “footy”, and get used to Vegemite and not Marmite. as well as “g’day”, “good onya” and “fair dinkum” and the likes…
And oh, Melburnians’ notorious love for all things 50 shades of black is really a thing: stroll through the CBD at peak hour and you’ll agree that these city folks really do wear a lot of black, and black is still the new black. No one from outside Melbourne wears black better.
And here’s a little bit more ….
The “let us rock” connection and other secrets behind Melbourne’s laneways …
Bring on the “footy” with the Fed Bells
enjoy browsing
and reading …
get hold of Madeleine travels to Melbourne
ponder, imagine,
turn the pages ….
