So when Josh and his co-workers got back, we were ready to head out to supper. They had been told to go to Hardware Street which was like an alley with a bunch of restaurants to choose from so we struck out for there. When we reached the first restaurant, there was a huge menu out front to read. Almost immediately a guy came up and started touting how wonderful his place was and offering us a free drink (soda for me and Josh) or dessert to eat at his place. He told us (confidentially of course) that he had the best prices in the alley and we need go no further. But, we did. The scene was repeated every 10 feet or so. Some of the guys would almost physically grab us and try to pull us into their restaurant. It reminded me of when you go to the fair and all the hucksters try to talk or physically pull you into playing their rip-off games or seeing their shows. After a while, we finally got to a place called Max’s and stopped. They had good Internet ratings and a good variety of food. I looked at their steaks which were listed in grams – the Metric System strikes again. I had a T-bone and Josh ordered a kangaroo steak and chided me for not being adventurous in my eating. I didn’t think I could look my daughter in law in the face if I ate a kangaroo steak. I did try a bit of his and it was good, just a little mushy and not as firm as a beef steak. We got done and headed back to the hotel for the evening.
The next morning Josh and I got up and had breakfast at the Queen’s Kitchen right down from our hotel. I went with bacon and eggs again and he had a bacon and egg roll with a monstrous cup of coffee of some type. Josh headed to work and I decided to head over to the Queen Victoria Market. This is a huge market that has been there since 1878. They have all sorts of things. I enjoyed strolling by the many stands of fruits and vegetables – all sold by the kilogram. It looked like high quality stuff except the tomatoes didn’t look nearly as good as the ones my in-laws raise. They also had all sorts of clothing and I scoped out some t-shirts and hoodies to buy for later. And of course, they had all sorts of souvenir type stuff. Finally, I went across the street to a building where the meat was. There were also sorts of butcher shops inside selling all kinds of beef, seafood, chicken, pork and yes kangaroo. It made me wish I could cook meat at the hotel since I am a carnivore and it looked great. They even sold huge bones if you wanted one for your dog. I finally wandered around to the bakery and got a Chocolate Royal. It’s a shortbread biscuit (cook) stuffed with marshmallow and raspberry jam dipped in melted chocolate. It was excellent. I also got a sausage roll to eat as I walked about which was equally excellent. I finally headed back to my hotel to rest.
I decided to then walk to where Josh was working. He is working with the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne to get input on his company’s software. He mentioned a meerkat display plus a large aquarium. So I walked over there. The meerkat display was just like what you see in a zoo and right in the middle of the children’s waiting area. The meerkats are very active to the delight of the children watching them. Then I went to see the aquarium. It’s a cylindrical glass case that covers two floors. There all sorts of colorful fish plus several sharks. It made me smile to see a young boy come in the front door and sprint excitedly to the tank to see “the fishes”. It’s a very bright and colorful place that would appeal to kids. It makes me really proud of Josh to see him working with a place that does so much good for kids. It rained on me a bit but I managed to hike back to the hotel with little problem. I ended up back at the market and got an order of fish and chips. I also got an order of their famous “jam doughnuts” which are sold in a food truck at the market. They were excellent and I brought one back for Josh. He was tired when we got back and pretty much crashed for the evening upon his return. I ended up having Tim Tams and doughnuts for dinner.
In my next post, I’ll tell you how I paid homage to one of my favorite comedians of all time by what I got for breakfast.
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