Melbourne

We got up early, way too early, and took a flight to Melbourne.  I am completely impressed with the airlines. Beyond efficient, nice, quick, etc.  The line was really long.  We had to get our boarding passes in the kiosk and get in line to check out bags.  By the look of the line, I didn’t think we would make our flight or the next two flights out.  Wrong.  The Aussies know how to move cattle.  Actually, every country I have ever been to besides my own runs air travel at a completely different speed.  Makes you wonder.

We were picked up by a limo.  I did not book that, believe me.  I had booked a van but they had run out and 5 people with luggage need a large vehicle.  The kids, no surprises, were psyched.  We cruised into our hotel.  We are staying at the Como which is quite nice.  We have a two bedroom suite so we all hang together.  Fred immediately figured out how to run wifi in the entire room off of my computer.  A huge sigh of relief from everyone that we were all connected.  God forbid, we might all have withdrawals.

Before heading out for the day, we walked down the street for lunch.  Right off the main drag is a small cafe called The Pound.  Like most cafes here, tiny that flow into the street.  Salads, sandwiches and of course coffee.  We had some vietnamese chicken salads (like the chinese chicken salad from los angeles) and enjoyed the setting. 

After lunch, we headed out to watch cricket.  The Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch thetournament between Australia and India.  The stadium is fantastic, large and modern.  Cricket, very cool, but admittingly I have no idea how the game is played.  The singing and screaming were great.  We cheered when the Aussies scored although we had no idea that they had.  We just followed the crowd.  Regardless, we hung out until a break and made our way back into town. Fred and Josh hit up the pool and I went shopping with the girls.

We went shopping in the area of South Yarra where our hotel is located.  Reminds me of lower Broadway meets 14th Street.  Didn’t take us long to realize, not for us and made our way back to the hotel to plan out tomorrow’s adventures and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at Three, One, Two which is located in Carlton, entirely across town.  Melbourne is spread out.  Reminds me of Los Angeles.  Although I actually love driving on the other side of the road (makes more sense), taking a taxi or public transportation makes life easier. 

Dinner was fun.  The five us split 2 bottles of wine.  One white and on red from the wine country about an hour outside of Melbourne where we are going in a few days.  Start sampling now.  The restaurant is simple.  Big glass windows over looking the street, probably 10 tables, black tiles half way up the wall and then white over that.  We tasted quite a few things off the menu which is small.  Four appetizers and four mains and two specials of the evening.  I began ( and so did Fred ) with the oysters.  5 oysters served over seaweed with Japanese seasonings.  Really good.  Josh went with the Rabbit pancetta with braised carrots, balsamic vinegar, fromage blanc and hazelnuts.  Really delicious and interesting.  Josh said it tasted like chicken.  The girls went with the cured kingfish.  Set out like pounded sashimi was the a long piece of cured kingfish and over that was small round pieces of slowly cooked octopus.

For dinner, Em went with the snapper that had been poached and served with prawns, a green sauce and roasted peppers.  Over that was a small dab of a potato aioli.  Beautiful.  Jessica went with the special which was slightly seared yellow fin tuna over pan fried asparagus and a sauce.  Josh, Fred and I went with the suckling pig.  Prepared very similar to 11 Madison.  A crispy piece of skin over the top and meat that had been chopped up and served rectangular under the skin.  Under that was two thinly sliced Moroccan style lemons with a mustard sauce and a small cabbage salad on the side.

Nothing for dessert because the menu didn’t cry out to us.  Hoping for chocolates on our bed.  We grabbed two cabs ( the problem with 5 people) and went home.  Fred immediately fell asleep and the kids are watching another season of something.

Looking forward to tomorrow….