04.29.10

Len dropped us off in downtown Melbourne to visit the Victoria Market. It's just like our West Side Market except 6 times the size and more product. They not only sell produce and meats, but a variety of clothes and souvenirs. We walked all around Elizabeth street and visited a few shops but didn’'t buy anything. We took the train back into town just in time for dinner.
So far what I have seen is that most of the larger grocery stores are actually attached/inside the malls! It's funny because you see people with their grocery carts walking around the mall. Another neat feature is that they have what looks like a food court but is really a large variety of different meat counters. They all have super chic and fancy branding and at first glance you would think it was a clothing boutique, but really, it's just a fancy meat counter! One sells a variety of meats, the other does strictly chicken; all the meats are nicely displayed as if it were some delicate pastry. They would most certainly have my business if I lived here!
There are no department stores...only their version of wal-mart and target, all attached to the mall like it was a Macy's or Dillard's. My mom would die if she had to walk into a mall to go grocery shopping, but at the same time, it's quite convenient!
Their food court doesn't even look like a food court either. Most of the places are cafés or bakeries and each have a glass display of already made sandwiches and different kinds of meat-filled pastries. They quickly put it under a panini press and there you go...a healthy alternative to greasy chain food.
It's like this everywhere you go for food. Surprisingly, they even have a separate café counter in McDonalds just for coffee and pastry. I like this though...you can't help but resist all the scrumptious looking sandwiches and it definitely would explain for the very slender figures here in Melb (how Aussies' refer to Melbourne).
Later that evening we went over to one of Jen's sisters (one of the ten cousins) for dinner, Elisa and Frank. Frank's a builder and had a lovely home. Elisa cooked us up a fabulous dinner that just seemed to keep going and going! Home made salami and wine and a variety of home grown fruits.
We got a chance to meet two of their 3 kids, Jessica and Daivin. Both have traveled quite a bit and we had a great time laughing between our travel stories. Daivin is quite the character and had a few of us in tears. After a few glasses of wine, a couple cups of coffee and heap-fulls of food...we managed to get home. I fell asleep quickly and dreamt of eating that food all over again.