The Boss and HM love the area across the river, its more open and out of the CBD skyscraper shadows, HM said the shopping was magnificent and you have to believe her, cause she knows! Chapel Street is sooooo long, we caught a taxi ( but you can quite comfortably catch a tram from Bourke St or Flinders Station) and made a beeline for the Chapel Street Bazaar.
http://melbourneinphotos.blogspot.com/2011/06/chapel-street-bazaar.html. It is open seven days and is a warren of retro yesteryear items and collectibles. Rosie was in heaven while The Operator gently prodded me this way and that to stop me knocking over towers of precariously piled paraphernalia in my delight and rush. The bits and bobs are fairly priced to a little over the top….the astute pricing means you wont find a rare bargain but hey, you cant buy em like that anymore and you can have fun trying! I found a pair of orange Italian glass light shades which greatly perplexed The Operator who is in charge of logistics on how to bring them home safely packed in our suitcase.
Walking down the street on a Saturday morning in the spring sunshine was just bliss, we took a detour off a side street to the Prahran Market http://www.prahranmarket.com.au/ this is the premier fresh food market in Melbourne and has been running since the 1920s! It was divine, fresh coffee roasters and grinders, fish, meat, bread, fruit, flowers and every ethnic persuasion of deli treats you could imagine to titivate your taste buds, all under cover and in a lively yet not over crowded atmosphere. The freshly made Turkish Delight was sublime as was Rosie’s choice of Taramasalata dip, The Operator opted for the Salmon which we had with freshly baked Ciabatta, the perfect takeaway picnic lunch.
My shopping find of the day was a shop called Matt Blatt, http://www.mattblatt.com.au/ the replica designer furniture made my pulse race and my head spin. An audible groan was heard from The Operator as Rosie stared, entranced in through the window and then stepped across the threshold. I bustled up to the shop assistant with a mad sparkle in my eye and said I would have one of those and one of those….and one of those please. Only to be told that this was a showroom only and they didn’t sell off the floor, we could order in and you could collect from the shop…in 5 days time. Rosie slumped to the counter, totally deflated, we were leaving in two days. No, they do not have a shop in NZ, we are too strick on the replica laws….how can that be, the bloody Chinese copy everything! Devastated Rosie turned and walked away, The Operator let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow.
