The weather was way too hot to do anything of import today. We walked up to the Victoria Market, which is a series of markets for produce, meats and other goods just outside of central Melbourne. All we could manage was two hours outside there, and then we crawled back to our hotel to cool off. After lunch, we headed to the Melbourne Aquarium. I had been told that this was better than the Sydney Aquarium, but it turned out to be a bit of a let down, from a size perspective. The Antarctic penguin tank was quite cool (the penguins have figured out that they are the stars of the show), but the other areas, including the sharks were not as impressive as Sydney.

Since we were in the area, we crossed the Yarra river and went to the Crown complex (hoping to see Tiger Woods, as he is staying there while playing the Australian Masters. No luck), and I bought some cigars before having lunch there. (Dinner tomorrow night will be there as well). A stroll around the promenade (still too hot to do anything) and back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Food
• Lunch: Gyoza, Thai Basil Beef and Singapore Noodles at the Crown. Cheap and good
• Dinner: Vue le Monde. (#4 on the Australian Gourmet list). The best meal I have ever had. The most expensive too, but worth every penny. No set menu at Vue. The experience consists of five to fourteen courses, selected for you by the waiter (in our case a Virgina Tech grad) and sommelier. Since there is no set menu, dinner actually begins with a discrete discussion about the “financial implications” (if any) for the table, and then you sit back and enjoy. The waiter and sommelier select a path for each diner through the 60+ dishes the chef and staff have selected for the evening, and the 1200+ wines on the wine list, adjusting to how you react to each course and wine.
  Our dinner comprised of an amuse bouche of a poached egg in shell with panko breadcrumb, a trout dish smoked under a bell cover, a wild mushroom and truffle risotto, a foie gras dish, a fish course of snapper with miso and apple, a palate cleanser of frozen hibiscus under water, a chicken course with three preparations of chicken, a lamb course with three preparations of lamb, a cheese course, and two deserts (fruit for me, fruit and chocolate for Jae). Based on Jae’s dislike for sweet ice/desert wines, her last desert of a super rich chocolate souffle was paired with a glass of beer (Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout).
  The service was great, the food excellent and the ambiance perfect. The only, only downside was that the table we had didn’t have the best view of the kitchen (which was more of a stage than a room), but we could see all the other dishes from the other patrons, and everyone was constantly looking at other tables trying to see what everyone else was eating.

Photos – There really wasn’t anything worth uploading from today. Photos of the Vue le Monde would not do justice to the evening

Turns out Melbourne is in the midst of a heatwave. Daytime temps are in the low-mid 90s, with low humidity, which means the shade is great and the sun is relentless – there’s not a cloud in the sky.

After walking up early, but getting sucked in by NFL football on TV (at 7AM), we decided to take a walk to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which the concierge told us was only a couple of blocks away. Turns out it was more than a mile away. The walk wouldn’t have been bad except for the flies (note to anyone coming here, bring or buy bug spray, preferably some kind of suntan lotion / bug repellent combo). The RBG was nice, but most of the flowering period was over, so it was mostly trees and grass, but with excellent views and quite serene.

After the RBG, we decided to stop in on the National Gallery of Victoria, which we had passed on our way to the RBG. Turns out to have been an excellent decision. A breadth of art and artifact spanning pre-Colombian days to the 20th century, including pieces by Rembrant, Monet, Rodin and Picasso. A must visit if you’re in Melbourne.

Food
• Lunch – Tea and Scones at the Tea Room at the National Gallery. Simply delicious. The ice coffee there was great – turns out that ice coffee here is cold coffee served with a scoop of ice cream. I endorse this idea.
• Dinner – Room Service. We were too hot and exhausted to go out

Photos
• Royal Botanical Gardens
• National Gallery

Got up early to head to the airport for our flight to Melbourne, not knowing what to expect at the airport. Turns out Sydney airport is relatively quiet on Sunday mornings, and security there is much more laid back. You still have to take your laptop out and your shoes off, but people are either more skilled at getting through security, or security isn’t trying to make a point. Either way, we had an hour and a half to burn, so I picked up Gladwell’s new book and enjoyed myself.

The flight was simple and easy (Qantas has the most efficient flight attendants I have ever seen. Snack and drinks given out to a packed 767 in under 15 minutes) and then a cab ride into Melbourne, which looks nothing like I remember. The skyline has been built up significantly and much of the open scrub areas that surrounded the city a decade ago are nicely manicured suburbs.

The Westin didn’t have our room ready (we were early), so we dropped off our bags and headed to Degraves Street for lunch. Back to the hotel, which upgraded us because they didn’t have our room ready when we first came in, and then out to see a bit of Flinders street before dinner.

Flinders street has an interesting juxtaposition of architecture. St. Paul’s Cathedral, from the mid 1800s, and Flinders Street Station from slightly later, and then Federation Square by Don Bates and Peter Davidson, which is best described as “Gehry-esque”. Jae and I decided to go into the Cathedral, which has some stunning artifacts inside.

Dinner was at the Flower Drum in Mebourne’s China Town. Aside from the street sign, you wouldn’t know there was a top end (#39 according to Gourmet Magazine) restaurant. You knock on the red door, and a Chinese gentleman greets you. If you don’t have a booking, you’re turned away. If so, you are ushered into an elevator and upstairs to the luxurious dining room. Service is excellent, with the waiters plating and building all of the dishes at the table – you don’t even have to roll your own Peking duck. The food was excellent (on par with Mary Chung’s in Cambridge). Finally a great meal.

Food
• Lunch – Linguine with with bacon, chilies, onions and garlic at La Citta. With a cold beer, this was excellent
• Snack – Had a quick snack at “Lord of the Fries” which claimed to be “The best fries you will ever eat”. Again, a lack of truth in advertising
• Dinner – the Spring menu at Flower Drum. Shanghai dumplings, Lamb spring rolls, Quail Sung Choi Bao, Peking Duck, and Szechuan style beef filet. As said, an excellent meal

Photos
• Walking around Melbourne
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• Dinner at Flower Drum

Jae and I had breakfast with her Dad and stepmom, who are (separately) visiting Australia and New Zealand. The Westin breakfast, while pricey, was unbelievable, with more types of eggs, sausage, fruit and drinks than I thought existed. After two hours of gorging ourselves, we wished our guests adieu and rolled out of the building.

We headed to Darling Harbour, which in the late 1980s was reclaimed and rebuilt. It now has the National Maritime Museum, an IMAX theater, the Convention Center, shops and restaurants, and the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World. Our original intent was just to hit the Aquarium, but you can pick up a discount bundle pass for the Aquarium and Wildlife World that’s good for a single admission anytime for three months. Turns out that it was a good idea, as we managed both in just under four hours with a short break for lunch.

Both the Aquarium and Wildlife World were worth the price of admissions, with the highlights being the shark tank in the Aquarium and the koala and kangaroo exhibits at the Wildlife World. I’d give them both an 8/10. They’re no Zoo but can easily be done in an afternoon.

After the animals, we walked through the rest of Darling Harbour and headed into Chinatown’s Paddy Market (not to be confused with Paddington Markets). Paddy Market is on the other end of the shopping spectrum from the QVB. Hundreds of stalls with mostly oriental owners hawking every kind of food and every kind of knockoff good possible (LeBron James “replica” jerseys for AUD$10). After wandering through the markets, we headed back to the hotel to pack for Melbourne.

Food:
Nothing to really write about. A lot of munching on whatever was at hand from whatever stall was close by. Paddy Market is full of them. Dinner was at the sushi bar at the hotel.

What I learned today:
• Sydney flies are vicious. Makes you want to carry a flyswatter to chase them off.
• Male platypus are venemous
• Koalas are dumb. Really dumb

Photos:
• Sydney Aquarium
• Sydney Wildlife World

Shopping was the name of the game today. Sydney’s downtown shopping centers are linked through tunnels making for some massive shopping malls, with food courts, subway stations and various stalls thrown in.

The highlight of the day was the Queen Victoria Building, with its great shops and architecture. Photos from walking around the building are here. After six hours spent wandering the stores and buying up the best (and worst) of what was on sale, we came back to the hotel and then headed out to dinner.

Food:

Lunch was a chicken teryaki box grabbed from a stall by Wynard Station

Dinner was at Guillame At Bennelong located in one of the shells of the Sydney Opera House. Australian Gourmet Traveller ranks it as the #8 restaurant in the country. We chose the degustation (tasting) menu, with the wine pairing. The courses were as follow:
• Yellowfin Tuna basil infused with soy and mustard seed vinaigrette. Paired with a 2006 Paul Kubler Breitenberg Riesling from Alsace
• Royale of Asparagus with spanner crab and truffle. Paired with a 2008 Domaine Pichot Coteau de la Biche Chenin Blanc from Vouvray
• Tortellini of Peas with fresh chanterelies, broad beans and light tarragon butter. Paired with a 2007 Chateau Bouscasse Petit Corbu from Pacherenc
• Turban of Scampi with spaghettini and a warm lemon and Sterling caviar sauce. Paired with a 2006 Denis Pommier Chablis from Burgundy
• Blue Eye Trevalla roasted on a etuve of baby spring vegetables. Paired with a 2007 Spring Vale Pinot Noir from Tasmania
• Deboned Rib Eye of Tajima Wagyu Beef with a tombe of field mushrooms, baby spinach, confit of shallot, merlot sauce. Paired with a 2006 Torbeck / Shiraz from the Barossa Valley of Australia
• Soup of Seasonal Fruit with lime marshmallows and pineapple sorbet. The soup was an infused pomegranate base
• Vanila Bean Creme Brule with green apple jelly, green aplle sorbet and doughnut.

All in all, this wasn’t a standout meal or a standout restaurant. The location and the chef are impressive, but that’s about it. The space is way too open and with tables positioned to make the best of the (impressive) views of the harbour, you have this feeling that there is a gigantic restaurant behind you with no intimacy (to say nothing of the austere hard concrete floors and the less than comfortable seating). The only memorable dish of the night was the Soup of Seasonal Fruit, which was very good, but it says a lot when that’s it. Service was slow, with wine courses often arriving well into the course. And the loudness of the space made it very difficult to hear the staff. All in all, not worth the time or the cost.

Well, okay Day 2 really, but yesterday was a wash getting oriented and over jet lag and travel issues.

Day 1 activities:
• Museum of Sydney – A fairly diverse set of exhibits including art and history of Sydney going back to its founding and almost to the current day. Fairly small and easy to do in a couple of hours. I’d give it a 7/10.
• Walked through Circular Quay to the Rocks – a 10 minute walk with spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
• Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art – I will never understand contemporary art. That’s just me. 2/10
• Walked through the Rocks to Observation Point – Passed by various old haunts of mine, like the Hero of Waterloo pub, on the way to Observation Point. Great views of North Sydney and the west part of Sydney Harbour from there
• Walked back to Martin Place, went grocery shopping Australian style

What I learned today
• Captain William Bligh wasn’t very, um, good. After the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, he went on to be Governor of New South Wales, where he was deposed in a bloodless coup here.
• Give way to hordes of Aussie schoolkids. Otherwise they’ll just run you over
• While it may be impossible to find sugar-free stuff here in restaurants (other than Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Pepsi Max, which are everywhere), gluten-free is pervasive.

Pics from today
• Museum of Sydney
• Walking from Circular Quay to Observation Point

…and the Food
• Lunch: Noodle Box at MLC Center. Cheap, yummy, spicy. Must go back
• Dinner: Room Service at the Westin. Still not quite on Australia time, we were too exhausted to go out