Diary: French chic/Rock chicks. Three days, two girls, one beautiful city...
Read on for our French chic /Rock chick experience in the heart of Melbourne…
Winter often requires something to lift the spirits. It’s that time of the year when you should spend some time indulging your passions.
My beautiful teenage daughter ‘Miss S’ and I decided that a Girls Trip was in order: so a trip to Melbourne was hatched.
Both of us have unique characters but we also share a love of music, books and architecture. We combined our mutual interests into the one holiday so we could get the most out of our shared experience. Plus, we could each get our individual “wish list” activities accomplished: my Francophile “French fix” along with the teenage Rocker chic experience.
“Thus, the “French chic/Rock chicks” holiday was born...”
I have always had a love of French culture so when booking accommodation I was seduced upon discovering the French Hotel brand Sofitel had a 5 star hotel on Collins Street in Melbourne (it is situated at the “Paris end” of Collins street so this instantly appealed to moi!).
Flights and accommodation completed I began some research…
The trip was centred around a rock concert by Pierce the Veil - a US band with a post-hardcore/experimental-rock/emo/Mexicore style which my daughter was dying to hear live (along with 7,500 other post-hardcore rockers…and a few faithful parents wearing earplugs and grim expressions).
This concert was the big ticket item on our agenda but I also wanted to show her the arts, culture and a taste of Melbourne as this city could play host to her future University endeavours. Plus, there was some more “French chic” moments to be had fair plaisir à ce francophile (to keep this Francophile happy)…
SOFITEL MELBOURNE ON COLLINS
Fresh off the 4 hour flight we arrived at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins on a crisp winter’s morning and were met with a hearty “Bonjour” from the suave, scarf-wearing concierges. Heading up the lift to the foyer we were greeted by the Sofitel’s delightful Guest Experience Manager Vaish who was so welcoming we felt like French aristocracy. She was delighted to hear about our trip and offered us an upgrade to their Luxury Corner Room and their welcome “Winter Wonderland” cookies.
We headed up in the lifts to our high floor where we could marvel at the magnificent installation which hung down through the 10 levels of the light-filled atrium. Golden hues with shimmering reflections bounced off the metallic details of the balconies - quite a sight to behold. Entering our room we found ourselves in a gorgeous light box with panoramic views: two sides of the room had floor to ceiling windows looking out over the the Treasury Gardens, Yarra River and St Peter’s Cathedral. Incroyable!
Golden hues with shimmering reflections bounced off the metallic details of the balconies - quite a sight to behold. Entering our room we found ourselves in a gorgeous light box with panoramic views: two sides of the room had floor to ceiling windows looking out over the the Treasury Gardens, Yarra River and St Peter’s Cathedral. Incroyable!
As much as we wanted to languish in our fabulous room and take in more of the areal views we decided to hit the streets. A pastry fix was calling…
LUNE CROISSANTERIE
Something we both agree on: our love of pastry. Lune Croissanterie has a cult status so we headed straight there. It was literally a block away (not by chance, I might add) .The queue wasn’t too long and soon we were inside smelling the buttery goodness of baked delicacies. We chose a Ham & Gruyere Croissant AND a Cinnamon Morning Bun and ate in, standing at the long table watching all the influencers taking selfies of themselves standing with a croissant (but not actually eating it!).
We were not going to fall prey to their influence and promptly ate ours with delight on our faces. (My dear Nana’s favourite saying “your eyes are bigger than your stomach” was running through my pastry-filled mind, but I didn’t let that deter me).
After our sorry attempt at insta-worthy pastry pics we wandered in the biting cold air down Collins Street Precinct - Miss S marvelling at the gothic architecture as we walked - through the Royal Arcade with it’s glass ceiling and over to the GPO where I had a craving for a piccolo at Federal coffee under the vaulted arches of the old post office building.
SHOPPING
A girls’ trip isn’t a girls’ trip without shopping.
We spent some serious time at Chanel and Converse which built up our appetite again so we stopped at Din Tai Fung for some afternoon dumplings before our next destination: to see the famous shot tower at Melbourne Central (and the large Clock which plays “Waltzing Matilda”. (You know you are in Australia when you hear that tune!)
Back through the Emporium we ticked off Bookshops and Bubble tea, Zimmerman and Zadig & Voltaire before getting back to the hotel to drop our shopping bags and get ready for our dinner reservation at The Hardware Club.
THE HARDWARE CLUB
Melbourne has such a great Italian community and is renowned for authentic Italian food. It is worth doing some googling to see what the locals and food critics write as there is a “red sauce tsunami” within the Italian restaurant scene. The reviews were buzzing on this little restaurant called The Hardware Club and it was the perfect place to dine on our first night in Melbourne. We couldn’t resist their Cacio e pepe Taleggio crispy cheese toastie, Burrata with eggplant and basil, Fresh pappardelle al limone, caramelized lemon & Pecorino Romano, roasted brussels sprouts with caper mayonnaise, a lovely glass of Verdicchio Castelli di Jesi. We finished by sharing a delicious cannoli for desert, followed by an espresso panna cotta. (Nana was chirping again in my head with her famous saying!)
MELBOURNE LIGHTS
We had been up since 3am NZ time and had spent 19 hours eating and shopping our way around Melbourne. What a great first day in Victoria. We headed back up Collins Street in the darkness looking at the up-lit gothic churches and illuminated designer store windows to our gorgeous Sofitel room. The wonderful staff had left us a note and Miss S some chocolate “rocks” in anticipation of her rock concert tomorrow night. We were blown away by their thoughtful gesture. At this point we were anticipating laying our heads straight onto our plush pillows but we couldn’t get to sleep straight away because the views out over the Melbourne lights were mesmerising…
With full bellies and our heads spinning from our first day in this beautiful city we slept in the plush Sofitel bed…
MELBOURNE SUNRISE
We woke to an incredible sunrise over the city shining through our vast windows. Of course, sunrise and views are not complete without the ethereal beauty of a hot air balloon floating in the distance! Magic. “Pinch me” moment over, our bellies were surprisingly hungry. A quick trip down to Lune where we bought a Pain Swirl and a Lemon Curd Cruffin for breakfast which we raced back to our palace in the sky and ate in the room watching the city wake up.
SOUTHBANK/ NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA (NGV)
Our plan for this second day in Australia’s second largest city was to head over to Southbank. Passing the iconic Flinders Train Station and St Paul’s Cathedral, we crossed over the Yarra River on Flinders Bridge to visit the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria). Julian Opie’s “Australian Birds” were pecking their way in their digital frames across from the Gallery entrance and reminded me of the time I visited Melbourne with my husband for our anniversary. Julian Opie was exhibiting at the NGV so it was a trip down memory lane seeing his works again. Outside on the other side of the Gallery was the “Temple of Boom” an Architectural Commission by Architects Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang Reminiscent of the Parthenon, this large-scale open air structure is painted in colourful, contemporary images by mural artists Drez, Manda Lane, and David Lee Pereira. We spent a lovely time wandering through this and enjoying the art, the light and the real bird life nesting nearby. We joined in on the photographing mayhem and some excellent selfies were taken with the light dappling over the art and us - quite a magical and serene moment!
BISTRO GUILLAUME
My inner French girl was calling for some cuisine so we walked around the Southbank to Bistro Guillaume - a little place I keep heading back to after my first experience staying in Melbourne at The Crown Metropol. This Bistro is part of the Crown Hotel group of restaurants and one which I enjoy for the French ambiance, excellent food and wonderful view inside and out on the Terrace. It was sunny but freshly cold, but that didn’t stop these two Kiwi girls from sitting outside with rugs on our laps and enjoying the sunlight sparkling on the river while I sipped my pretty pink glass of Provencale Rosé and Stella enjoyed her pomme frites! Sharing is caring so we enjoyed a delicious lunch of whipped cods roe with herbs and baguette, soufflé au Roquefort and then decided to squeeze in an almond croissant which we bought a bit further down from a bakery - enjoying the sweet, buttery, crunchy texture while sitting on the riverside to lap up more sunshine and 11 degree Celsius Melbourne fresh air.
STREET ART
Crossing back over the river to the City we walked down Degraves St so I could show Stella the array of eateries which Melbourne has to offer, checking out some of the street art, architecture and historic arcades along the way. (Block Arcade is worth a visit with its gorgeous mosaic tiled floors and beautiful boutiques - including jewellery and fine stationery - and Cathedral Arcade for it’s Art Deco vibe, Vintage shopping and artisan boutiques). A quick stop to visit a gem merchant (I was looking for a particular cut grey spinel for a jewellery client and so while I chatted with the gem merchant Stella rocked out to Pierce the Veil on her headphones in anticipation of the evening’s concert.
SUPERNORMAL
Another of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne is Supernormal. Asian Fusion with a relaxed yet professional team we had an early reservation at 5pm at the bar. This game us front row seats to the set up in the kitchen where we watched the talented chefs create some of our delicious dishes: Raw snapper, yuzu dashi and shish seeds; Korean rice cakes with sesame and sweet chilli; Potsticker dumplings; Duck Bao washed down with a delightful glass of Margaret River Chardonnay and and Orange Spritzer. Fanta vibes to get the rocker chic in party mode!
PIERCE THE VEIL
Back to our view in the sky we enjoyed the city lights while we got ready for the concert. The beauty of Sofitel on Collins is its proximity to town as well as the MCG and surrounding Arenas We were heading the to the Margaret Court Arena, a massive stadium style sports and entertainment theatre with a capacity of 7,500. It was swarming inside and out with post hard-core rockers (and a few scared looking parents). We queued for merch and then found our seats after walking a full round of the arena’s two levels. We were away from the mosh-pit and as it turned out, close to other young fans being accompanied by their parents. Stella made a new friend and rocked hard all night, singing the lyrics and screaming at the Fuente brothers. I got ringing ears and lactic acid build up from holding my phone up high to video every single song! A mother’s love shows no bounds! (The concert was actually incredible so both rocker chicks left and returned to our 43rd floor/ 180 degree views feeling like we would “Collide with the Sky”…* Pierce the Veil Album (2012)
I changed your mind and ended up here
Through stained glass eyes and colourful tears
- “Stained Glass Eyes and Colorful Tears” by Pierce the Veil (Collide with the Sky, 2012)
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
Our final day in Melbourne was dedicated to the old world: we wandered over to East Melbourne and walked around the outside of Saint Peter’s Church then meandered back into Collins Street where we passed many denominations of Churches: The Scot’s Church and Saint Michael’s Uniting Church. That was enough churches for one day, but as luck would have it, we chanced upon the gorgeous Kay Craddock Old & Rare Books Shop which had first editions from 1882 of Thomas Hardy’s Two on a Tower and George Meredith’s The Egoist from 1879. We spent a long time oggling beautiful old books that were well out of our price range and out of our reach, tucked behind locked glass…
One last lunch stop, we returned to the Royal Arcade for a wonderful Italian lunch at Caffé e Torta at the (Little Collins St end) and finished off the afternoon with a macaron from La Belle Miette at the Little Royal Macaron Specialist… (Yes, we still had a little room left in our second stomachs!)
FAREWELL MELBOURNE!
It was time to say a bientôt to our welcoming team at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. We had commentary farewell drinks at the Atrium Bar on the 35th floor under the mirrored fifteen-floor canopy. A delightful fromboise fraise (fresh strawberry) Mocktail for Stella and a glass of Mornington Peninsular Vigonier pour moi.
The perfect finale for our French-inspired/rocker-vibe/mother-daughter Melbourne getaway…
