expiration date 

we woke up rather early today. ramanda, fenny and mom picked us up at the hotel and we went out to walk around the city.

since our hotel was right across from Southern Cross Station, we decided to take the train to the Flinders Street Station. i was pretty surprised on how great the Southern Cross station looks. it’s very pretty, modern and clean. when i was still living in Melbourne, the station was under big construction that most of the area was closed for renovation. anyways, aina was quite excited to ride the train and kept saying, “Thomas! Thomas!”

 

we stopped by the St. Paul’s Cathedral across from the station to take some pictures and let aina run around chasing birds. once again, St. Paul’s Cathedral was under heavy renovation when i was still living in Melbourne. so this time, we took our time to look around and take the photographs of the interior of the church. this cathedral has a very pretty red door and wooden ceilings. the tile work and the stripy (yellow + black) interior reminds me of one of those spain and turkish buildings that has been converted from mosques to churches or the other way around. very pretty…

after a the bird-chasing session, we had lunch at the Pancake Parlour, where the waiter was especially nice and funny. strangely, though, he kept calling our group “girls” even though there is Ramanda and ari, who are clearly guys. well, maybe ari’s long hair might’ve tricked him, but ramanda with his slight moustache wouldn’t fool him, don’t you think?

the food was awesome, though. i was beyond full by the time we got out of the building.

today’s mission is shoe-shopping — boots-shoppping to be exact. we found a pair of ladybug rain boots for aina, that comes with a matching ladybug umbrella. and for me, even after 15+ stores and many pairs of sore legs, i still couldn’t find boots i like. as a consolation, though, i found a pair of red maryjanes which i totally adore.

 

by the time we finished shoe-shopping, it was almost dark. we were going to stop by Canterbury, but after seeing our watches, we realized that most of the shops there are already closed.

so we decided to head straight to mom’s house. it’s about an hour away driving — pretty far in the suburbs. my parents just moved to this house a few months ago, so this is the first time i’m in their new house. the house is pretty huge and it faces a lake. too bad that we were there in the winter and the sun went down so fast, because it would be great to spend some time playing near the lake. even without the lake, aina had a great time running around the house.

before fenny and ramanda dropped us back at our hotel, we all had dinner at the italian restaurant near the house. once again, i was very impressed on how nice and welcoming the waiters are. the food was great too. i finally had a gut to try “rabbit”. it was rabbit confit, so i don’t know if that counts.

the last time i had a chance to have rabbit in a dish was when i was still living in the NYC. it was a friend’s birthday at a pretty fancy restaurant. i’m pretty sure the rabbit in the menu is good, but at that time, i was still living with bebe. and even though i love to try strange dishes, i really didn’t want to go home and explain to bebe why i just had his fellow cousin for dinner.

anyways, the confit wasn’t bad. but i guess it taste rather similar to other confit. i have to try a steak next time.

anyways, there are more photos on that day on my flickr.