AT BRUNETTI'S

Brunetti, the Italian restaurant, café and pasticceria, is a famous Melbourne institution on Lygon Street, Carlton. It is large, yet cosy; noisy and busy, yet intimate; crowded, yet efficient; popular, yet delivers consistently good quality food and service. I've lived in Melbourne long enough to see it growing and growing, but whenever I go there I remember my student years at Melbourne University and the endless cups of espresso we consumed there (not to mention the great food!)...

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

LYGON ST, CARLTON

Melbourne's "Little Italy" in Lygon St, Carlton always brings back happy memories of my University years, as it is only a block away from my Alma Mater, the University of Melbourne... Still vibrant and colourful, a pleasure to visit again and again.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

WINTRY SKY

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

MELBOURNE MUSEUM

The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of the Government of Victoria, on behalf of Museums Victoria which administers the venue. The museum won Best Tourist Attraction at the Australian Tourism Awards in 2011.

The last few days of Winter here in Melbourne have been windy, cold and wet, so museums, libraries and art galleries are definitely the places to be!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE EXHIBITION BUILDING

Originally designed for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, the Exhibition buildings and the surrounding Carlton Gardens are now World Heritage listed. The Royal Exhibition Building is Australia's only World Heritage listed building. Completed in 1880 for Melbourne's first International Exhibition, it was the site of Australia's first Federal Parliament in 1901. With its meticulously restored interior, expansive galleries and soaring dome, it continues to offer a magnificent setting for trade shows, fairs and cultural events.

The Exhibition Fountain by Josef Hochgurtel is of Portland cement built in 1880. Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne, Germany, and trained under Herr Fuels, who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and Copenhagen. The colossal fountain stands some 10 metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne’s two grand international world fairs. The fountain’s visual elements were designed to display the young colony’s confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations.

Here it is hosting the Affordable Art Fair held in Melbourne recently.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

LINCOLN SQUARE

Lincoln Square, Swanston Street, Carlton provides a green space in the heart of the City. A central part of it is the Bali Memorial Fountain. This fountain and landscaped site memorialises those who lost their lives or were injured by the bomb blasts that devastated Kuta, Bali, on 12 October 2002, and honours those who helped in the aftermath. It has been conceived as a place of comfort, the seating offering a place for quiet contemplation.

The memorial’s centrepiece is a low concrete platform in which two rectangular pools are sunk. These house 91 jets, representing the Australians who perished in the bombing; the names of the 22 Victorians killed are recorded on the sides of the fountain. The fountain’s 202 lights represent all who died that night. A plaque on the eastern side of the memorial lists the names of the Australians who lost their lives. On each anniversary of the bombing, the fountain recedes to become a reflection pool. 

This memorial rejuvenated an existing water feature, built on the site in the 1960s. In 1961, the Melbourne City Council began work landscaping Lincoln Square, laying paths, stone terraces, flower beds and installing an ornamental spraying fountain. It was officially opened by Councillor Brens, Chairman of the Parks and Gardens Committee on the 23rd of July, 1965. The fountain was the first work to be designed financed and installed entirely by the Melbourne City Council, at a cost of 18,000 pounds. The City Architects designed a 40 foot square pool with 150 jets forming the water sculpture. The pool is capped with Sicilian marble and Harcourt granite.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

AT LYGON ST

Lygon Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, Australia running through the suburbs of Carlton, Carlton North, Princes Hill and Brunswick East. Lygon Street's name has become synonymous with Italian restaurants and cafés located in the Carlton part of the street. In addition, there are specialty shops, boutiques and gourmet food provedores.

The Italian restaurants synonymous with Lygon Street occupy the few blocks between Victoria Street and Elgin Street in Carlton. The area is heavily European in nature, and is the home of the yearly Lygon Street Festa, one of Australia's largest outdoor street festivals. The La Mama Theatre and Courthouse Theatre are also in this area, as is the heritage-listed neon sign at Borsari's Corner, named after Italian cyclist Nino Borsari, on the corner of Grattan Street.

Toto's Pizza House, the first pizzeria established in Australia, has been located at the southern end of Lygon Street continuously since its opening in 1961. Excellent coffee lounges and cake shops are to be found here. Nothing like taking advantage of some Winter sunshine and sipping the best coffee in Australia outdoors and people watching!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

AT BRUNETTI'S

In Lygon St, Carlton's Little Italy, it's almost a sin not to go and have a coffee and cake or lunch at Brunetti's Classico. I remember this small unassuming Italian Café from my student years at the Univeristy of Melbourne around the corner, but it is now bigger, better and more amazing, with the quality of the coffee and food even better.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

AT BRUNETTI'S

Brunetti, the Italian restaurant, café and pasticceria, is a famous Melbourne institution on Lygon Street, Carlton. It is large, yet cosy; noisy and busy, yet intimate; crowded, yet efficient; popular, yet delivers consistently good quality. I've lived in Melbourne long enough to see it growing and growing, but whenever I go there I remember my student years at University and the endless cups of espresso we consumed there, in the then small and intimate premises... 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

CITY VIEW

A park in Carlton, an inner suburb of Melbourne, with part of the City Skyline.

This post is part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDING

The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 1880. It is located at 9 Nicholson Street in the Carlton Gardens, flanked by Victoria, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district. It was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880–81 and later hosted (in the Western annex) the opening of the first Parliament of Australia in 1901.

Throughout the 20th century smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire; however, the main building, known as the Great Hall, survived. It received restoration throughout the 1990s and in 2004 became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world. It is the world's most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914.

It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum and is the largest item in Museum Victoria's collection. Today, the building hosts various exhibitions and other events and is closely tied with events at the Melbourne Museum. This view is taken from a window high up the St Vincent's Hospital.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

AT BRUNETTI'S

Brunetti, the Italian restaurant, café and pasticceria, is a famous Melbourne institution on Lygon Street, Carlton. It is large, yet cosy; noisy and busy, yet intimate; crowded, yet efficient; popular, yet delivers consistently good quality. I've lived in Melbourne long enough to see it growing and growing, but whenever I go there I remember my student years at University and the endless cups of espresso we consumed there...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Macro Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

ART FAIR

Today we visited the Affordable Art Fair in Melbourne. It was a massive event with hundreds of pieces of art and tens of galleries represented. One of the bonuses was that many of the artists were also present and were standing beside their works, ready to have a friendly chat about them. Although most of the prices were quite reasonable, there were a few paintings that were a little on the pricey side. Nevertheless, this was an event that we thoroughly delighted in and the standard of the art was truly amazing!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDING

The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 1880. It is located at 9 Nicholson Street in the Carlton Gardens, flanked by Victoria, Nicholson, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district. It was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880–81 and later hosted the opening of the first Parliament of Australia in 1901.Throughout the 20th century smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire; however, the main building, known as the Great Hall, survived. It received restoration throughout the 1990s and in 2004 became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world.

It is the world's most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914. It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum and is the largest item in Museum Victoria's collection. Today, the building hosts various exhibitions and other events and is closely tied with events at the Melbourne Museum.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

MELBOURNE FLOWER SHOW 2017

Thousands of visitors visit Melbourne every year in Autumn to witness blooming gardens, colourful trails and beautiful flowering plants at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. The event is hosted at the UNESCO World Heritage listed Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition buildings. The show bursts with an explosion of colour as native plant species, seasonal flowering plants and exotics bloom. The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is the largest garden show in Australia.

Top floral and landscape designers from all over the country come to participate in this show. There are stunning displays, excellent flower arrangements and an extensive variety of native a

nd exotic flowers on display. The Flower & Garden Show also features many stalls offering a variety of garden products, gardening tools and outdoor furniture. You’ll also find many rare and exotic plant species, retail products and innovative flower arrangements. Also displayed are full scale landscape designs for gardens and this year a stunning variety of designer cubby houses were on show.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

FITZROY MURAL

This is a mural in Nicholson St, Carlton, by artist Justin Avery. Quite a striking piece with the tessellated blue and pink background on which are the three figures warping the fabric of time as it were, poking a stick through the orderly cubes. A nice touch is the galah in flight above!

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDINGS

Originally designed for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, the Exhibition buildings and the surrounding Carlton Gardens are now World Heritage listed. The Royal Exhibition Building is Australia's only World Heritage listed building. Completed in 1880 for Melbourne's first International Exhibition, it was the site of Australia's first Federal Parliament in 1901.

With its meticulously restored interior, expansive galleries and soaring dome, it continues to offer a magnificent setting for trade shows, fairs and cultural events. The Exhibition Fountain by Josef Hochgurtel is of Portland cement built in 1880. Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne, Germany, and trained under Herr Fuels, who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and Copenhagen.

The colossal fountain stands some 10 metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne’s two grand international world fairs. The fountain’s visual elements were designed to display the young colony’s confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations.

The interior of the building is as remarkable as the exterior and the photos of it below were taken during one of the annual Flower Shows that are held there.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

PLEA & ADNATE MURAL

Adnate is an artist that realises his portraits in spray paint. He has moved past his roots in graffiti, utilising the medium to carry his realist style into the fine art realm. Heavily influenced by the chiaroscuro of renaissance painters like Caravaggio, Adnate embraces portraiture like the masters of the XVI Century. Elevating graffiti art above the level of letter writing, Adnate’s subject matter and their subsequent status often belies the intent of his portraits.

His works are often cropped by evocative slices of vibrant colour, channelling a presence of character, much like a still life uses its background as a setting for detail and showing of fine brushstrokes. Adnate’s realism is highlighted by the use of what appears careless, but is frequently calculated blocks of vibrant colour. Adnate is still best known for the stunning portraits, typically of indigenous people, that can be found across Melbourne. This 2015 mural is found at the corner of Park and Station Sts, Carlton North and Adnate has collaborated with fellow artist Plea to create this beautiful portrait of a young Aboriginal boy.

Adnate's journey has involved spending time with indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, the Western Desert and the Northern Territory's central desert as well as Melbourne, photographing subjects that he would later paint. Beyond deepening Adnate's understanding of Aboriginal culture, he hopes that his art might trigger greater public engagement with indigenous culture.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,

and also part of the Monday Murals meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.