Day 118: 28/04/13
I had a nice sleep in for myself this morning and a late breakfast. I went to Aldi for a few bits then. Aldi is practically the same as home which is weird!
Afterwards I uploaded the photos from the markets and stuff yesterday to my computer and hopefully I'll get some on the blog and Facebook soon enough.
I met Laura in town then. We went to one of the little lane ways that was recommended yesterday- Degraves Street. Laura had been there before but there's loads of cafes so we ate somewhere she hadn't been. It's a cute little lane way with loads of nice places to eat. All the tables are on the street but the only problem is they are very close together! We had an older couple beside us commenting on our food and giving us their life history! I almost felt like it was rude to eat while they were watching us!
After that we went to the Block Arcade. I had been there before with Laura but I couldn't remember where it was. It's near Collins street so hopefully I'll find it again. It's like a mini shopping centre with expensive jewellery and chocolate shops and a whole other set of restaurants and cafes in an alleyway. It's all very European looking.
When we had gone through that the Royal Arcade is opposite it. I hadn't been there before. It's a row of shops- lots of chocolate and specialist food shops. There was a shop where they make rock candy. You can watch them making it an then you can taste the one they've just made. They rolled a huge big thick roll of the sugary stuff and then squeezed and pulled it to make thin tube of rock. One guy did that and the sweat was out through him! Another guy then cut up the tubes into long sticks of rock and then cut up those into small pieces. It was very interesting to watch!
There were a lot of toy shops in there aswell and Laura has a godson she wants to buy a present for so we were looking for something. They had loads of lovely expensive toys like train sets and doll houses and lots of Lego, jigsaws and puzzles. We didn't end up getting anything for the child but there was loads of stuff we liked ourselves! There was also a toy called Pound it which was basically a bench with holes that you hammered screws into. The main point of it was to hammer them in so it reminded of the hammer down thing, which I don't even remember, but I've heard a lot about!
We found another little lane way then to have coffee and a crepe in. It's another nice lane way but all the cafes were practically closing, so it would be better to go again another time!
I went back to the hostel then. I planned to look up what else I want to see in Melbourne before I leave and which places I want to go to on the East coast, but for some reason the computer wouldn't connect to the hostel wifi or my own wifi. It seemed to be a problem with the wireless settings or something. My phone would connect fine to either so there must be something wrong with the computer. If worked fine up to now so hopefully it was just having a bad day and all will be well again tomorrow. I want to put up the pictures aswell so fingers crossed there's nothing wrong with it.
Alva Glynn was skyping me then on my phone but when I answered it, it was Padraig! Dymphna and Sean were in the background and Alva appeared then too. I don't think they'd any major news. They are all working away at the moment- keeping busy. They were so in good form- plenty of the usual wit and slagging!
I Skyped Mam then and was talking to her for a while. Then Dad came home and when I was talking to him the Skype connection was cutting out all the time so I rang instead. With the way my credit is now, I get about $500 dollars when I too up by 29 each month. It vanishes at the end of the month if you don't use it so I may as well. I don't know yet how much the call cost but ill let ye know! I don't think they had any news either- gallivanting round the Taidhbhearc was about it- I'm sure that spelling is wrong but ye will know what I mean!