Keeping a Quiet Heart...: Melbourne

Our first week overseas was spent in Melbourne, Australia, with one of my dearest friends, Erin. The whole purpose of our trip was to spend time with Erin, meet her fiance Phil, and attend their wedding. Erin was the Maid of Honour in our wedding and is from Australia. How did we meet? Wow, long story. It basically involves Los Angeles, golden keys, a few worship songs, ice cream, roughly three hours, and a whole lotta God. I cherish Erin's friendship so much.

We were so busy in Melbourne I forgot to take pictures for like four days. I know. But here are a few of the city...

Melbourne is at the bottom of the world. Here's a little geography lesson for you:

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Melbourne is also the capital of the Australian state of Victoria (the state just above the island state of Tasmania).

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It's a cool city. Kyler and I agree, of the two Aussie cities we visited, it's our fave. Kinda like the difference between Boston and LA. (To clarify my Aussie friends, Sydney definitely has the cool views, the glitz and touristy stuff, but if we were picking one of the cities to live in, Melbourne wins. A bias because Erin and Phil live there? Ummm...yes.)

We got in around 8:30pm on Monday night. Tuesday we slept in, ran a few errands with Erin, bought a few things to wear since our luggage was still MIA, and fixed dinner for Erin and her cousin Helen who arrived that night. On Wednesday, Erin drove us to Sorrento, which is on the other side of Port Philip Bay from Melbourne.

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It was a beautiful drive and a blustery, rainy winter day. We didn't get to do the hiking we'd hoped to do because it poured buckets every time we attempted to leave the car. But, we did see some gorgeous views. Like this one on the beach:

Doesn't she have a gorgeous accent? (And isn't she gorgeous? I love my Erin!) I started thinking and dreaming in Aussie accent by the end of the second day there. It was awesome. :) We had a fab lunch at the All Smiles Cafe on the ocean, went into town for dessert and coffee, and wandered around the small town of Sorrento.

On Thursday, we went all around the city and saw some of the "touristy" things. We went out for brunch with Erin's Mum, brother Jeremy, and cousin Helen at a little coffee shop called The Seven Seeds, (Ken Oyerly, you'd love this place; they roast their own coffee) and we also met Phil (Erin's fiance) for the first time. For the record Phil, we think you're alright. You're a pretty cool cat and you'll do for Erin's husband. (And for all of you literal people, that was sarcasm. We love Phil and think he's an incredible match for Erin.)

Here's some video from brunch that morning (I'll admit it...mostly so you all can see Phil and hear some more of that fabulous Aussie accent [grin].)

While Erin and her Mum had some girl time before the wedding craziness started, Kyler and I hung out with and had late lunch with Phil and Jeremy, then hopped on a trolley that did a big loop around the city past a bunch of interesting landmarks like the Parliament House, Flinders Street Station, and other historic buildings.

This is part of the Queen Victoria Markets, a huuuuge open-air market in downtown Melbourne. Part fresh produce market, part flea market, part hand-crafted items market, and part huge-slabs-of-meat-and-fish-and-pigs-with-their-eyeballs-still-looking-at-you market. I can't believe I neglected to take pictures of the latter. But anyway...