Melbourne: CBD
The first day we got to Melbourne we were super tired after 20+ hours of traveling so we spent the day being lazy. The next morning we woke up ready to walk around the town! We first stopped at a bakery for breakfast and then went to the Central Business District (CBD) where there are lots of cool shops and cafes.
We went to Duke’s Coffee which has a strict no-picture policy, which is a shame because the interior was really cool! After that we started exploring the arcades. We had never heard the term “arcade” before but it’s basically a long indoor shopping area - usually the entrance is at one street and the exit is at the parallel street. It was really cool and we found a Dr. Seuss gallery as well as a honey shop, which gave us free samples of honey! We had never tasted different honeys but they all tasted so different, it was unbelievable. We learned all about the bees in Australia and really, really wished we could have brought some honey home - especially the creamy honey.
For lunch we went to Sushi Monger, which was in another arcade. It has crazy lunch deals - 3 rolls and miso soup for only seven dollars. It wasn’t the best sushi in the world but for the price, we’d definitely go there again! By this time we were pretty tired but St Paul’s Cathedral was really close by. We went inside and sat for a while, took some pictures of the outside, and then headed back to our apartment.
A few days later we went back to the CBD because we heard how beautiful the State Library of Victoria is. It was absolutely gorgeous inside! In their room called the Dome, there are thousands of books all around the octagonal room. We climbed the stairs to get a better shot! There used to be a chess reading room filled with books on chess, chessboards, and historical chess paraphernalia. They are redoing the room so for now it is in the Dome! We thought it was the coolest thing to watch these people studying their chess books while playing their opponent. It was so intense!
- Nick + Jess