This morning was intended as grocery shopping, which meant heading to the absolutely massive Queen Victoria Market. Although it is accessible from the Flagstaff Gardens stop on the Circle Tram, it was close enough to our hotel that today we used our feet instead of wheels and wires.
Given the severe thunderstorm warnings issued for the afternoon, we thought it was a good idea to take advantage of the morning’s sunshine.
From our 18th floor apartment window we could see our destination, and the route through Flagstaff Gardens that would take us there.
Strolling through Flagstaff Gardens was meant simply to yield some peaceful green to our day.
It turns out, though, that we don’t go anywhere without learning something.
We continued along leafy pathways to the market. The map below, posted on one of the market walls, gave us a hint as to its size.
We approached the market from the parking lot side, where it looked like a huge series of tin-roofed sheds stretching a full block long and several sheds deep.
Inside, the first massive area was filled with clothing, housewares, jewelry, souvenirs, textiles … and Turkish Delight. We weren’t there for any of those things.
First of all, we wanted to find the market’s main entrance, of which we’d seen photos. Searching for it meant walking the length of the entire exterior, along rows of Victorian era shop fronts.
Finally….
In order to get photos without tons of traffic and tram wires in it, we stood on the opposite side of the street, where we noticed some unique (to us, anyway) Victorian era artifacts.
We crossed the street to finally get our shopping done, and were wowed by the freshness and variety on display.
We came home with free range chicken thighs and breasts, organic eggs with the darkest yellow yolks I’ve ever seen, butcher-made lamb and rosemary sausages, Australian-grown leeks, onions, red bell peppers, portobello mushrooms, seedless green grapes, and huge ripe red cherries.
We literally had the proverbial “three bags full”, so didn’t even get to seafood, cheeses, or bakeries.
Within minutes of getting back to our apartment, the predicted thunderstorms arrived. Although they cleared by dinner time (stir-fried chicken breast, vegetables, and rice) we decided to stay in for the evening.
Tomorrow we’ll be back on the circle tram, headed for Federal Square and a walk along the Yarra River.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 