Melbourne Places

The Grosvenor Hotel was lit up on a cold rainy night and on a whim we went in for an early meal.

Grosvenor Hotel
We arrived shortly after 6pm and for a good three quarters of an hour we had the Bistro to ourselves and the waiter’s full attention.  We needed this attention.  The Bistro has an [...]

Melbourne is changing!   “Well of course,” I hear you say.
I know this happens all the time but it came as a shock to me when I found a place I knew well was to change.
Yesterday I drove past a corner I used to live near.  As I waited at the red traffic light I [...]

Something wonderful has happened to the roses in the Alister Clarke Rose Garden in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens.  Well, it is wonderful to me.  Some lovely person has identified these roses and now they have name plaques.

There is something about looking at a rose and knowing its name.  It adds an extra pleasure.  With [...]

My first visit to Shakarhari, the vegetarian restaurant at 201/203 Faraday Street  in Carlton, was a few years ago.
I was with a vegetarian  friend who was visiting  from overseas and I  wanted to give her a experience of fine dining –something more than the  average vegetarian fare which often seems to include beans or Dahl.  [...]

A pair of magpie-larks or mud-larks, as they are sometimes called, have honoured the Rainman statue in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens by making a nest on his arm.

They look very much at home and secure as they fly to the statue and settle on their nest to keep their eggs warm.

I haven’t seen many [...]

The St Kilda Botanical Gardens are in winter mode.  It is a lovely time to visit and see the gardens preparing for spring and summer.  Occasionally you see a sign of things to come with clumps of bulbs sending up their first spring shoots.

The ambiance in the Alistair Clarke Rose Garden is different at this [...]

The say good things come in small packages and the St Kilda, Salvation Army Opportunity Shop is proof of this.  They have downsized.  In doing so they have created a much better outlet in Carlisle Street than the previous one on the corner of Inkerman Street and St Kilda Road.

That huge rambling and messy warehouse [...]

October was a wet month for Melbourne and the roses loved it.  They’re in flower all over the city. It was time for a visit to The Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens. (See my previous post)

I went this week in the relative cool of an early morning when the [...]

A cold evening, showers and a chill wind, your heading home and the big question is what to eat.    Take-a-ways seem a good idea and you want something quick.
How about The Hearty Hungarian, in Carlisle Street East St Kilda?

The food is ready to go – no waiting around.  All you have to do is make [...]

One of the attractions at the St Kilda Botanical Gardens is the Giant Chess Board.
There is an area set aside especially for Chess near the pond and the conservatory.  It has built in bench-seats and tables.   The tables have regular chess boards set into them so you can bring your own set, sit in the [...]