When I got in Melbourne CBD for the first time it looked busy and interesting but all places seemed limited to fast food, sushi and noodles bars or very expensive restaurants, shopping malls, shopping centres, boring designer handbags shops and night clubs in office buildings. Yes, in daytime it is a grey office building, in night time they open some hidden door which takes you down or upstairs to a club where all those screaming drunk girls with high heels go. But it was just first impression. After walking around we discovered some galleries, independent not boring designer shops, amazing hidden cafes with hairdresser, coffee and art shop in one and other things. And the thing with Melbourne – there is like another city on the second, third, seventh floor level.
The fancy – kitschy – magic bar upstairs.
Reda, are you reading this? It was full of stuffed animals, birds, dried giant bugs and other scientific objects decorated with some jewellery.
A giraffe with golden mascara on her eyelashes and a bird (this supposed to be called earbird?). An ostrich with pearls. If women had such long necks, can you imagine how many pearls would they need?!
You hardly can see the street through jungle in the balcony in the second floor (or how they call it first floor in Australia). If you go upstairs on the roof of some 6-7 floors building you get into another beach themed bar.
Another building. Staircase.
It is a home for renown bookshop Metropolis, a couple of restaurants, martial arts studio, few designer boutiques, a gallery space or few.
Rooftop cinema shows old and new movies on a warm and cool summer nights. On a daytime it’s a good place to have some beer or lunch.
The construction process in Melbourne – they left only façade of the giant building.
Gallery boxes on the roof.
After a week they opened a modern jewellery exhibition in this space.
One of the boutiques I told about. Oh, again staircase, same picture!
This is a staircase with a lift. It is in the same building we were at night with Reda. It’s on her blog. See the elevator door on the right.
Doors are opened manually, oldschool stuff.
We found two galleries in that building, amazing view from one of them.
We got a nice present from our neighbours – a tour to the highest viewing platform in southern hemisphere.
The view to St Kilda side. There is the F1 track going around the lake. Just above the island in the photo you can see some tall white buildings on the shore – it is St Kilda where we live.
The city.
Melbourne’s landmark Federation square trough kaleidoscope monoculars.