More from Melbourne
Day 14: Bouncing around town
That Thursday Joe and I spent most of the day on Brunswick, Collins, Johnson, and King streets- walking, eating, and drinking outdoors. Just by chance, if you believe in it, we walked past a veggie café known as Veggie Max and I enjoyed a delicious vegan pizza for the first time in weeks. This restaurant stood in a league of its own and its owner knew it. He even refused to franchise unlike Lentils as Anything which had 3 locations. Additionally, I ate a huge salad and took my time finishing up in two hours. Apparently you cannot “take away” in Australia due to health restrictions by the government. I was extremely hungry so it didn’t bother me one bit but it was a strange law. After our meal, our friendly waitress filled us in on the scene for live music. We left with full stomachs and evening plans.
Joe started his night early again since I was lagging as usual. Joe ate dinner by himself and I munched on my snacks in the room and a quick falafel. Joe chilled at the Espy for dinner before texting me to meet him at the Vineyard. I met him at the Vineyard around 9ish but resisted drinking there due to a lack of seating. The next stop was Cookie in the CBD, the central business district. Within a few minutes we met a few locals who were semi-friendly but not overly engaging. It turns out both of them were exotic dancers and a bit rough around the edges to say the least. Their professions surprised me at first, but it made sense the more I thought about their personalities. This was the only place where I ran into any conflict on the trip so far. The bartender gave me grief for ordering pineapple juice and exchanging it for cranberry since it was real juice. He was peeved but I knew why. I mistook one of the girls for Britney Spears because she wore a white fedora slanted downwards. Never call anyone Britney no matter how she dresses or how she dances, under any circumstance. I tried to make peace but my foot was stuck. I left it there and bounced. No need for drama.
We left for a spot called St. Jerome’s, per our waitress friend’s advice, but we gave up. We stopped at a Thai place for a quick snack in the meantime. Then we hit the Black Cat and Night Cat and the Laundry, but they were all fairly dead. Thursdays weren’t a huge night in Melbourne either. We decided to head back to St. Kilda for drinks near our home base. A few taxis later we settled on a backpacker hotel/pub known as BaseX. It felt way too young but the music was decent. Joe and I called it an early night since we drank the night before. Melbourne was growing on me more and more despite the lukewarm nightlife. You could just tell by its hoppy districts that it would get better on the weekend.
