the rest of Melbourne in a nutshell....

i know, i know....it's about time. so here is the rest of the trip in a nutshell....



sunday we went to this art market on the esplanade that was ok. i say ok b/c there was nothing overly exciting or different there. we did eat at a great place for brunch and i had a wicked good breakfast that was called "the treehugger breakfast". lots of veg and egg. yum! dinner was at a place called sodarock which is a lot like 59 diner in houston. we both had great burgers and paul had a lime milkshake.



we saw the movie "Enchanted" which paul surprised me for. he did not expect it to be as good as it was, but had received awesome reviews online. it was a really good flick. we had dinner on lygon street.



christmas day we woke up extra early at 8 am (in m & p world) to phone family for their christmas eve. it was good and quite a good laugh. paul and i opened our stockings then which i crocheted and then went back to bed. we woke up for some christmas snacks in traditional mnady and paul style. oj, salami, hummus, pita bread, fresh mango and cherries, romano and cheddar cheeses......gosh it was yum! the perfect snack for our first christmas together. later that afternoon we met up with some fellow SFS teachers and had late lunch at the house where they were staying. they also did a house swap too. it was fun to hang out, play with their two boys, and eat a great meal with folks we knew.

on boxing day (day after christmas) we had lunch at a great spot called lamb on chapel. the souvlaki sandwiches were out of this world. the best we have had ever. we still talk about this place. then we saw the movie darjeeling limited. it is our tradition on the 26th to eat lunch and see a movie. that is what we did for our first date in 2005. so since we make the effort to make sure it happens each year. we had japanese for dinner at a place we found called kara su zaka. it was good too.

we watched lots of west wing as well as renting a few movies such as munich and schindler's list. really great films.

friday after christmas we went with michelle's parents to the healesville wildlife animal sanctuary which has all native animals to australia. it was really hot that day, but the animals were really great. my favorite i think is the wombat which are much larger than i expected. they are the size of a small dog but much rounder. crazy. we had a picnic lunch and then made our way back to melbourne. it took us about two hours to get there, so we rested on the ride home.

we went back to the movie theater to see bee movie in a certain theater called the half pipe. inside instead of rows of chairs, they have massive bean bags. it was really fun! paul and i shared a bean bag for the movie. it cost a bit more, but well worth it for the experience.

we ate at some great restaurants along the way.......thai, greek, italian, etc. the list goes on and on. paul got a haircut, we shopped for birks, had coffee, and ate for the rest of the trip. took it easy and spent lots of time hanging out together.