CBD

It has been a busy couple of days and looks like it will be that way until Monday when I return home. Yesterday Missy & I did a bit of site seeing at the CBD and today we were able to spend some time in the kitchen together baking and cooking... I have missed that...and one of my favorite things that we have done together.

CBD Central Business District

That's what they call downtown around here. Missy and I got up early yesterday and with our usual "extra site seeing " ( code word for lost ) made our way to the CBD. It was a beautiful day! Not too cold or hot.... Perfect sweater weather. We stopped in at Lulabelle's for lunch and a cappuccino and continued our way to the CBD.

Lulabelle's for lunch

Parking is always a challenge and Missy was congratulating herself when we pulled into a 4 hour parking slot and only had to pay $5. Of course we walked 5 blocks....but it was a nice stretch alongside Queen Victoria Park and we were happy to be together to share the day.



CBD

Our first stop was the tourist information center for maps and instructions and then we caught the free tourist bus to St. Patrick's Catholic Church. That was the church that I had on an earlier post. It is so beautiful. We were able to go inside and even sit quietly and pray a bit.

St. Patrick's Church

Then we caught the free trolley that makes a loop of the CBD. We rode the entire loop of the downtown area with narration of all the sites. We saw the dockland area....and all the old buildings. It is a major port with a large customs area. Melbourne is a really interesting mix of old Victorian and very contemporary new buildings. It is one of those rare downtown areas that is very clean and beautiful. They are doing some massive developing of dockside living and it is one of the hottest places to live. We also saw the Parliament Area. It is really pretty. I took a picture of their version of a fire hydrant.... Pretty funny looking.

Parliament Building &

their version of a

Fire Hydrant





Then we stopped in at the Immigration Museum. I was fascinated by the way Australia was populated.... and the history of the aboriginal and other native born people of that area. Then we headed up to the Yarra River to have Sticky Date Pudding.. It is very similar to Sticky Toffee Pudding in the UK and one of my favorite desserts when I can find it. It was marvelous! It is served warm with a toffee sauce and ice cream....and we quickly devoured it.

Yarra River





We did a bit more shopping for today's baking at my favorite store....Safeway.... and made it home and decided to just call out for pizza. We were pooped!

My Favorite store....Safeway

Today we started early this morning making treats for Missy's office party. It is a Halloween theme and we made spider and monster cupcakes, a cake that looks like a pumpkin, popcorn balls, these spider things made out of Chinese noodles, a pumpkin roll and we are taking guacamole and chips. On top of that I prepared Missy & Wes one of my specialties for dinner... Roladen with potato dumplings and cheese blintzes for dessert. Missy and I stood and cooked all day. We are exhausted tonight but it was such fun doing it together.

Spider & Monster Muffins

We have an early morning tomorrow to set up for her party and then we will go out to dinner. Saturday I think we are planning to go to the Yarra Valley. I am not sure what all we will see but will report all about it when we return.... I think we are out to see Kangaroos though.... :-)

Have a Blessed Day!

Elaine