Melbourne: the City of Coffee, Cafes, Cocktails, ice-Cream & ...Bizarre weather?

So..after two weeks of being on the road - which generally turns one into a bit of a beach bum, we head into civilisation, i.e. Melbourne city. It seemed like a whole new experience driving on proper tarmac and four-lane roads...as well seeing...actual tall buildings! For the first time in our lifes, both of us said we can now finally understand how it felt for someone to come from a small village into a big city. We felt underdressed. Badly.

Another thing we could realllllly look forward to apart from the good food and coffees Melbourne seems to be known for (ok, we're not real Museum or art appreciators - which is something else Melbourne is famous for), we were really looking forward to a real bed. The thought of being able to finally stretch out and sleep on a BED spurred us to get to Ivan's place quickly. Ivan is Mishell's school friend and he moved to Melbourne since May last year.

Incidentally, Kuin & Simon also decided to fly down from Sydney and join us for the weekend (Wow!) and they have also rented a convertible so that we can drive to the Yarra Valley, feeling the wind in our hair. Awesome!

And...it turns out that Kuin&Simon were staying at the hotel round the corner from Ivan's place...perfect!

We arrived on Friday evening and Ivan and his wife, Ee Lane cooked us steamboat aka Fondue Chinoise...fantastic. We felt like we've really come home - what a treat!

Next day, we had Saturday brunch at an actual tram stop - only the Melbournians can do something like this.

Meet: Simon the rapper-dude and his dudette / Darf ich vorstellen: Simon der Rapper und Kuin

No reservations at this place, so some group pictures to past time. We felt really lucky to have this opportunity for us old school friends to get together like this. / Keine Reservationen an in diesem Restaurant möglich, daher einige Gruppenfotos um die Zeit zu verbringen. Wir fühlten uns sehr Glücklich, dass alte Schulfreunde sich so treffen können

The tram actually stops here. Note the person standing waiting & the others sitting on the platform having a coffee. Surreal. / Die ist ein Tram Haltestelle. Die Personen die stehen und warten und die anderen die sitzen und warten geniessen einen Kaffee. Surreal.

Good friends having a laugh together / Gute Freunde lachen zusammen

Ivan & Ee Lane

A Kodak moment / Ein Kodak Moment

Simon said something funny / Simon hat was lustiges gesagt

Can't get over the fact that they flew down to Melbourne just for 1 night to see us...really cool! THANKS guys! / Simon und Kuin sind extra für uns von Sydney nach Melbourne geflogen nur für eine Nacht..super coool!! Vielen Dank!

The brunch proved to be seriously worth the wait. Melbourne has a serious coffee and brunch culture with a huge Italian and Greek influence. Not only was the cappucino perfectly frothed, the food servings were generous and not to mention extremely yummy! We love sourdough toast with our omellettes! Zurich sooo.. has to have this!

Simon does not normally drink coffee. Hence, he braved himself on this day and ordered a baby-cino (what a great concept!). The waitress laughed - we didn't know why. Turns out that a baby-cino is not a smaller version of a cappucicno but a little cup of frothed milk for kiddies (so they dont feel left out)!

Simon and his baby-cino / Simon und sein baby-cino (geschäumte Milch [kein Kaffee])

What a great concept! / Super Idee!

The perfect (soy) cappucino.....yummm.... / Der perfekte Soya-Cappucino......fantastisch

Thank you to Ivan & Ee Lane who brought us here / Vielen Dank Ivan & Ee Lane die uns hierher gebracht haben

Mishell were shocked by the portions / Mishell war shockiert über die grösse der Portionen

Pasci's order: Sicilian sausages with olive & pepper sauce with poached eggs on Sourdough toast / Pasci hat sizilianische Wurst mit Oliven und Pepperoni mit pochierten Eiern auf Toast bestellt

Mishell's order: Poached egg, bacon, grilled mushrooms and rocket with beetroot jam on sourdough toast. YUM! / Mishell's hat pochierte Eier, Speck, grillierte Pilze und Ruccola Salat mit Randen auf Toast bestellt. YUM!

Pasci got too excited at the sight of his breakfast and could not wait to start / Pasci konnte nicht warten mit dem Frühstück anzufangen

A happy satisfied smile after the meal / Ein zufriedenes Lachen nach dem Frühstück

Gay-calendar posé or Rayban advert? ;-) / Schwulenkalender oder Rayban Werbung? ;-)

Yeah...THIS is the way to travel - roof down, sunny skies (little did we know)... / Yeah..SO muss man reisen - Dach runter, sonniger Himmel...

'The' convertible look / Der Cabrio-Look

Not quite 'the' convertible look you want to have.... / So möchte man nicht gerade aussehen im Cabrio

First stop in Yarra Valley: Chateau Yering. Unfortunately the historic house itself was closed to visitors on weekends. Bummer. The Chateau has really beautiful grounds... / Erster Stop im Yarra Valley: Chateau Yerring. Leider ist das historische Gebäude geschlossen für Besucher an Wochenenden

The Old house - very pretty inside. / Das historische Haus

Poor Simon could not really drink with us since he was driving. / Armer Simon konnte nicht trinken, da er fahren musste

We still prefer Swiss Pinot Noir - this one was not too impressive / Wir bevorzugen den Schweizer Pinot Noir - dieser war nicht so beeindruckend

My best friend and my best man :) / Mein bester Freund und mein bester Mann :)

Best friends since 7 years old... / Beste Freunde seit dem wir 7 Jahre alt sind...

And still young at heart. :) / Und immernoch jung im Herzen. :)

"It was this big...." / "Es war dieses grosse...."

Kuin corrects Mishell and shows her what the right size should be ;) / Kuin korrigiert Mishell und zeigt ihr was die richtige grösse sein sollte ;)

And off we go for some wine-tasting / Und dann gehen wir Wein probieren

Later that day, little did we know but Melbourne city was hit by a really bad freak storm. We had a bit of a shower and hale in the Yarra valley but that was nothing compared to the disaster in the city. A lot of cars were badly dented (some were completely written off) due to the golf-ball sized hale a lot of the shops in the city had to close because they got flooded. Whilst there was mayhem and major flooding everywhere in the city, we were sipping and gargling our wines in the Yarra. Now that's what I call good timing! :)

As we headed back, only did the reality of the storm hit us. There were branches everywhere on the roads, traffic jams and leaves all over.

The post-effects of the storm / Die Auswirkungen des Sturms in Melbourne

Strolling along the harbour - looking for a pizza place / Spazieren entlang dem Hafen - auf der Suche nach einer Pizzaria

Melbourne by night / Melbourne bei Nacht

Our favourite dessert in Melbourne - Gelati! Best part is they have East-Meets-West flavours here! E.g. Coconut Pandan, Lychee & Mint, Durian (didnt dare try that one). / Unser liebstes Dessert in Melbourne - Italienische Gelato! Am besten daran ist, dass sie Asiatische Geschmacksrichtungen haben! z.B. Kokosunus Pandan, Lychee mit Minze und Durian (den haben wir nicht versucht)

Two scoops, two cones :) / Zwei Kugeln, zwei Waffeln :)

Another freaky thing is how close the tram stops are to the tracks itself. Most stops do not even have a shelter or a platform and is literally next to the track itself. / Auch ein bisschen beängstigend ist wie nahe die Tram Haltestellen bei den Tramgeleisen ist. Die meisten Haltestellen haben kein extra Unterstand

On Sunday, we had a very cosy breakfast at Kuin's aunt's place. Thinking that we could eat no more, we then proceeded to Grace's place (another school friend of Mishell & Kuin's) and we were greeted by her lovely sons and her brother, Mark's family, a friendly dog and a mountain of food!

Grace treated us to some yummy barbecue wings, garlic bread, coleslaw with a twist (coriander- most interesting!) and lots of sausages. / Grace hat uns verwöhnt mit Barbecue Poulet Flügel, Knoblauchbrot, Kabissalta und Würsten

Doggie felt a little left out...awww... / Der Hund fühlte sich ausgeschlossen....awww....

Simon looks ready to take on the food...grrr... / Simon schaut hungrig aus....grrr...

The gracious hosts - Grace and Gary / Die grosszügigen Gastgeber - Grace und Gary

and the piece dé Resistance...Grace's famous baking! The perfect chocolate brownies! / und als Dessert...Grace's berühmtes Gebäck! Der perfekte Schokoladen Brownie!

Mark Koay & Grace Koay

Cute little fella - Lucas / Süsser Bube - Lucas

Love his big, round eyes / Wir lieben seine grossen, runden Augen

Time for a nap - little guy didnt want to go / Zeit für ein Pfüsi - der kleine wollte aber nicht gehen

A group-photo session before Kuin & Simon left :( / Gruppenfotos bevor Simon und Kuin gehen mussten :(

One for memory lane... / Eines für die Ewigkeit...

Saying goodbye.... / Tschüss sagen...

The next day happened to be a bank holiday in Melbourne. We were yet treated to another breakfast by Ivan - lovin it!

Ivan cooked breakfast! / Ivan hat Frühstück gekocht!

We decided that we should at least see a little of the city before we go. We therefore headed out before it got dark. Melbourne is known to have four-weathers in a day. And it is not a myth. The day started off grey and cloudy.

Federation Square - the main square in the city / Federation Square - der grösste Platz in Melbourne

The tank trams - some were pretty old / Die Trams sahen aus wie Panzer - und einige waren sehr Alt

Australia's tourism is amazingly advanced. This lady in red was 'the' information centre, i.e. a mobile info centre. She knew her stuff. / Die Australische Tourismus Industrie ist sehr fortgeschritten. Diese Frau in Rot war das mobile Informationscenter mitten in der Stadt

One of Melbourne's arcades - beautiful architecture / Eine von Melbournes altertümlichen Einkaufszentren - sehr schöne Architektur

We stopped here for a coffee - there are so many cafes in Melbourne...all hidden from the main track / Wir haben uns hier einen Kaffee gegönnt - es gibt viele Kaffees in Melbourne...viele sind versteckt von der Hauptachse

Alleyway cafe / Ein Kaffee in einer Seitengasse

Another perfect Cappucino / Und wieder ein perfekter Cappucino

After our coffee, the sky suddenly cleared up and it was all blue and sunny. We decided to take this opportunity and jumped on the tram to St. Kilda beach.

Only in Australia would jellyfish feature as part of the beach warning / Nur in Australien sind Quallen auf der Strandtafel aufgeführt

We noted the clouds in the horizon / Wir haben die Wolken am Horizont kommen sehen

But it was unbelieavably blue and sunny where we were....perfect for some photo shoots :) / Aber es war noch wunderbar sonnig und der Himmel blau...perfekt für einige Photos :)

Note the sunny blue sky in the background /Sonniger und blauer Himmel im Hintergrund

Beautiful scenery from St. Kilda beach

View on our right.... / Aussicht nach links

And view on our left..../ Aussicht nach rechts

The storm was approaching... / Der Sturm im anmarsch...

And we got caught in it! See the divide in the middle where it's sunny and blue on the left and cloudy on the right. It came in a snap of fingers... Luckily, the next tram came along and we jumped on it-heading back to the city. / Und wir waren darin gefangen! Der Sturm war unglaublich schnell da. Zum Glück kam das nächste Tram bald und wir fuhren zurück in die Stadt

We headed for the '1806' - a real gem of a cocktail bar. The cocktail menu was amazing and really inspiring.

The 1806 / Das '1806' (eine Bar)

Studying the menu and feeling the mood of the place / Überlegen welchen Drink wir nehmen

The Blue Blazer - getting its name from the flaming blue liquid (a mix of Whiskey) poured from jug to jug as part of the preparation of the drink / 'The Blue Blazer' - der Name kommt von der blauen Flamme welche man sieht beim Mixen des Drinks

Mishell had the 'Angel's Milk' - which Pasci described as "angels pissing down your throat...very smooth". Its made with Frangelico, a hazelnut based liqueor. / Mishell hatte den 'Angel's Milk' - welchen Pascal beschrieb als "wenn Engel deinen Hals herab schiffen". Es hat Frangelico darin, einen Haselnuss Liqueur..

Cheers! / Prost!

Pasci was disappointed that there was no more! / Pasci war enttäuscht, dass das Glas schon lehr war.

On our last night in Melbourne, we bought Ivan and Ee Lane dinner at an italian place in the Italian Quartier, Lygon Street. Pasci finally got his pizza.

Mishell's crab linguine was o....k... / Mishell's Linguini ala Scampi waren.....o....k....

Last Gelati treat before we leave. Note Pasci's enthusiastic face...whilst Ivan studies the options quite seriously. / Letzes Gelato bevor wir gehen mussten. Schau Pasci's enthusiastisches Gesicht....währenddem Ivan die Glacesorten studierte

The flavours are very diverse / Es hatte viele Geschmaksrichtungen

Happy faces of our gracious hosts...thank you Ivan & Ee Lane!! Sorry we busted your wall...we're not used to paper-thin walls in Australia. / Glückliche gesichter auf unseren grosszügigen Gastgebern...Vielen Dank Ivan & Ee Lane!!! Sorry das wir Eure Wand beschädigt haben....wir sind uns die dünnen Wände nicht gewohnt!!