Day 2: Fitzroy Gardens | The old treasury | Queen Victoria market |State library | Chinatown | Frajya.

Rocco

We managed a earlier start today and hit the cafe just outside the hotel were I had one of the most intense long blacks of my life, I got Deb a plain Croissant (won’t make that mistake again!) and a oat latte. We then hopped on the tram to Fitzroy gardens. But let’s go back five minutes, as we were waiting for the tram the very official and scary looking tram police get off a tram and read the rights to a young lady who by all accounts to had been responsible for the heinous crime of fare dodging. I reassured Deb that we would be fine as we were travelling in the free tram zone which was great until…..

So it turns out that the disabled stop on the tram is not in the free tram zone, in fact I could see the colour drain from Deb’s face as the loudspeaker on the tram announced we were now leaving the free tram area. Like the petty criminals we are we legged it off the tram and across the road into the gardens.

Fitzroy Gardens

Despite the weather forecast giving a cold and gloomy outlook the skies wear blue and it was quite warm, the gardens themselves are beautiful and we saw James Cooks cottage which for some bizarre reason was moved stone by stone from Yorkshire, the very delightful conservatory with a very friendly gardener in attendance, the whimsical fairie tree and model village (a gift to Melbourne from Lambeth).

Treasury House

From there we popped over to the old treasury which had a very interesting exhibition on the Melbourne gold rush and in particular the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples, it is quite evident being down under that the stain is still raw and moves to rectify the wrongs of the past are still evident today.

By now my poor choice of footwear meant my knee was giving me proper jip so we decided to uber across town to the very impressive Queen Victoria Market, a busy must see in the city. I had done my homework and moved as quickly as my jip would carry me to the food hall and in particular the spicy lamb Borek shop.

Made fresh onsite daily, the Market’s famous Borek shop sells traditional boreks and gozleme alongside a range of other delicious items like zucchini fritters, bean salad and wraps.it was hot, HOT and very tasty, Debs had the cheese version as she can’t take the heat.

We then made our way tot the state library and eventually managed to take the lift to the sixth floor to get the full view of the breathtaking study hall.

China town

We then carried on walking down through China town to catch a tram back to the hotel it had been a busy old day.

Freyja

We decided to go a bit posh tonight and popped a couple of doors down to the Nordic inspired Freyja restaurant and their tasting menu. It was OK but if I am being honest not a patch on the ones in Copenhagen (do you notice a pattern here) but the staff were very charming , (even if Deb’s couldn’t understand a word the French waiter was saying) and while not blown away it was a nice pleasant experience.