December 29, 2010 – We arrived early into Melbourne but had to unfortunately wait on the plane for a while for another plane to taxi. We were immediately picked up by our travel service and taken to our hotel. I gotta say, having to not worry about getting a ride and a taxi is definitely worth the extra money… its just another thing that we don’t have to worry about.
Our Hotel and Federation Square
We arrrived at our hotel the Westin Melbourne, and was pretty impressed with the hotel immediately. Their lobby was super nice and their receptionist was super friendly. Once we checked in we went to our room and it was exactly what you expect from a Westin and their HEAVENLY Beds, Love them!
the Hotel was also in a GREAT location. Just steps from Federation Square, so we went to check out what the “rave” was all about.
In all the books and articles i read about Mebourne, they said you either love it or hate it… I was probably on the side of “eh”. It was pretty cool to see all the people around and funky architecture, but that was about it! We spent some time walking around the Square and headed off to southgate
Did You Know?: The Australian Open is played n Melbourne?
Southgate
My Favorite part of Melbourne was Southgate. It had such a charming feeling and friendliness to it. Its basically a strip of restaurants/bars along the main river that runs through the city. Pretty poppin place and tons of people again just drinking and hanging out .
We strolled along the river for a while and essentially walked through the main part of the city and then walked back towards the hotel. A really nice walk that took only about an hour but you get to see a good chunk of the city and the skyline
Chinatown
We then headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner and headed off to grab some food… We drove by Chinatown earlier so we decided to walk through that area and grab a bite. They have a pretty thriving Chinatown, so we decided to pick a restaurant that was somewhat crowded and ate there… Food was delicious and cheap! Definitely worth walking through Chinatown if you ever head out there…
We decided to call it a day and walked back to the hotel and went to a little coffee shop outside our hotel where there was a live band playing and drink some hot chocolate. Was a perfect way to end the night as well with some warm cocoa…mmmmm …until tomorrow!
We decided to eat at this Greek Restaurant in South Yarra. Was really good! There was also a ton of photos with celebrities there as well so it must have been a popular place!
Peking Duck!
Day 2 of our trip in Melbourne – We woke up and wanted to explore the city so we decided to venture out again. We had some reco’s so we went off the list and checked out a few places.
Check out the wider map of Melbourne to see all the areas we ventured to.
Royal Botanical Gardens
We began the day walking through the beautiful Royal Botanical Garden in Melbourne. A garden similar to that in Sydney but it seemed alot bigger. It was a beautiful day in Melbourne so we took full advantage of it, often stopping to just sit and enjoy the scenery.
Shrine of Remembrance
In the middle of the park was the Shrine of Remembrance which was dedicated to all the Australians who served in the two world wars. It was quite a monument and very well kept. Throughout the buildings were all sorts of memorabilia and old photographs of old soldiers during the wars.
South Yarra
Walking through the park we decided to head next to South Yarra, that my friend Ben told me about. He said it was like a “Melrose” type of place, so it got Grace all excited about it! It definitely was Melrose-ish, plenty of shops and tons of people just wandering around and hanging out. I was told later that that area was some what more the “ritzy” part of town. Alot of nice condos and boutique (but still expensive) shops. Definitely worth checking out.
We decided to eat at this Greek Restaurant in South Yarra. Was really good! There was also a ton of photos with celebrities there as well so it must have been a popular place!
Peking Duck!
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