If you are seeking to make the most of your weekend, why not try going on a tour of vanishing Melbourne.
Melbourne has an eclectic mix of history. Many perceptions have shaped its contours and it draws tourists from the appreciation of the unique character it has gleaned from different periods jumbling together. It reflects a battle between preservation of the past and demands of the future.
Sip a coffee at
The Kettle Black cafe to gape at the stark contrast of overshadowing modern development towering above quaint antiquity. The coffee here is rich and nuanced. The food is a garden on the plate its style 'trendy modern health'. Of particular note is the Coconut Yoghurt decorated with edible flowers fruit and granola.
Tour the
Block Arcade in the city off
Collins St and ogle at cakes and rings and scarves (especially the umbrellas in the rain scarf) before waiting for a quaint performance of a clock featuring a cute horn blower.
If you ate
Hopetoun tearoom's raspberry tart or vanilla slice (which is excusable, all their cakes are rather mesmerisingly hard to resist), you could always weigh yourself on the rather carelessly placed historic scale positioned near
Haigh's.
The whole arcade is rather molten and near the exit to
Elizabeth St, you can happen upon a rainforest of
Beechworth Honey.
colour tiles
Block Arcade Mosaic Tiles
patterned tiles
Wonder through
Como House Garden and imagine an early 19th century perspective on life. The best time to come here is on the weekend of the
French festival in November when it is transformed into a different time and country. It is peaceful refuge any day of the year and you can savour a great coffee and croissant or elegant lunch at the
Stables of Como. The grounds and buildings have trapped in the atmosphere of a different period. It is soothing suspension from the buzz of city life.
Keep your eye on the National Trust website for events such as open gardens' houses and the opportunity to see collections of past vision. Travel on the train to
Rippon Lea to continue the sense you are in a Victorian world. There are often exhibitions of costume and fashion, open-air films in the summer and a teddy bear's picnic. It is a great place to take a hamper even in the frigid cold.
On the
Sandringham trainline you can get to hear directly by alighting at
Rippon Lea station and walking up the street towards the main road or you can explore
Elsternwick first and walk along the railway line past the fence of the garden.
Inspire your imagination; this was once likely a horse's pathway and it is an idealic approach. Definitely avoid if it has been raining as it is then a puddle swamp as well.
Wind down with a coffee at many of the elegant possibilities available near
Ripponlea station before taking the
train home or on.
A free way to get in touch with heritage is to amuse yourself taking pictures of beautiful heritage examples overshadowed by scheduled for redevelopment signs.
antique Melbourne
threatened ambiance
Gone
lost time
heritage
