“Old and rare books!”, we gasped in reverent unison,
as we swerved off course, making a bee-line for the shop window.
“Don’t open ’til ten”, a chap behind us on the pavement drawled, the smoke from his early morning cigarette curling around his smile. He’d obviously seen our type before.
My niece and I were in Melbourne, relishing some girl-time. The day before we had spent a wonderful day at the Melbourne Museum, where we immersed ourselves in a shared love of all things scientific –
the wild,
the weird,
OK then, the weird…
..and the seriously mind-boggling.
This day we would spend the morning traversing Melbourne’s laneways, indulging our love of shopping, architecture and art,
and the afternoon marvelling at the mysterious workings of commercial harbours (Melbourne’s has quite a colourful history but I doubt that any internet resource can provide an as wry and amusing and account as our ferry driver did :lol:).
But about that bookshop – we made a mad dash back before closing time
and what a treasure trove it is – an extraordinary collection of enthralling books,
watched over
by the largest collection of owls I’ve ever seen –
they are everywhere, roosting in glass cases,
on pelmets, in windows and on bookshelves,
and have been mysteriously multiplying for the 47 years that Kay Craddock, the bookshop’s owner, has been in business.
But Old and Rare Books was nearing closing time and we were fading fast – a love of chocolate chocolate addiction is in our genes and we hadn’t had our Koko Black fix for the day,
so, after a quick purchase for the love of my life, we exited this wonderful place.
My niece and her husband were with us for three weeks over the 2012/2013 Festive Season: a wonderful and extremely precious time. We don’t know when we’ll see each other again; we live on different continents. But a myriad of shared interests and the deepest bonds of love keep us connected.
😀 😀 😀
More about Melbourne
Food recommendations from our trip:
Koko Black (of course!)
City Wine Shop (don’t let the name fool you – this establishment is not all about wine: their food is quite delicious – and their desserts are sublime!)
Longrain – the duck salad (which we shared) was superb, as was the banana and lime sorbet- yum, yum.
And for excellent photos of Melbourne, head over to Leanne Cole’s blog – mine can never do Melbourne justice the way that Leanne’s most certainly do.
For more entries to this week’s photo challenge, see The Daily Post.
beeblu blog 
Oh this is soooooooo delightful!
I never understand the fierce rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne – they are different cities with very different charms 🙂
what a fun day, i love science museums with funky exhibits, and harbours have their own mystique …. and chocolate is one of my favourites!
I think the Melbourne Museum is one of the best in the country, Christine. It’s my third visit there. My niece makes her own non-dairy chocolate but just loved Koko Black 😀
What a wise bookshop owner she is! The chocolate shop in your link is cool, thanks for a nice day out 🙂
Haha – yes, very wise surrounded by all those owls. Glad you enjoyed it.
BB, Sounds like a great day! Thanks for taking us along! 🙂
Thanks for coming along 😀
Wonderful images of your day together, BB. That Koko Black beverage looks . . . awesome. Delicious enough to entice me away from that intriguing owl guarded book store.
Exactly! Chocolate wins out every time 😆
That looks like a place I would love, especially that book store 🙂
Who could resist a bookstore that stocks books with titles such as “Ghastly Good Taste or a Depressing Tale of the Rise and Fall of English Architecture”? 😯
Oh…how I love old books…what a fine….thanks for sharing your day and the recommendations.
Thanks, Charles – that Australian itinerary of yours is growing – you’ll have to come over for a year’s sabbatical, haha
So interesting, BB. I have been to Sydney and Darwin, but never to Melbourne.
Thanks for the trip.
John
You’re welcome, John – nice to see you 🙂
The start of this felt like a story. You should write it!
Mmmm…I might just give it a go
Good 🙂
Tilly Bud pointed this post out to me because I love owls. I also love books. Now I desperately want to go to this shop!
I’ve never heard of Koko Black. It looks amazing!
You’ll have to come and visit Australia! Although, judging by the number of books left on your list of books to read, visiting Old and Rare Books will only stress you out 😀 Thanks for dropping by.
But you can always mitigate the stress with a visit to Koko Black 😉
Wow, what an absolutely wonderful post. Loved the tour but especially loved the bookstore. I would have done the same thing and been lost for a few hours in there! Oh, and your niece is gorgeous!
Thanks, Madelaine – I think I need a whole weekend in Melbourne for that bookshop 😀
I could live in THAT bookshop
Me too, Jo – sooooo many intriguing books 🙂
well, I love your day, I love that you stay connected with your niece, I know how difficult it is to have family and friends on different continent, I love your photos and your story, voila!
And I love your “voila!” haha – thanks, Benedicte 😀
Sounds a pefect day, BB! The light in your photos is so upliting…and I love the owls. Glad you had such a great time!
Thanks, Kate – funny how we love the light in each other’s photos 😀 My SIL lives in Sweden and I love the very strange (to me) light in her marvellous photos too. How is it possible for anyone to be bored?!
Definitely a WOW day. The bookshop is a owl-ing success?
hehe – it sure is, Col
I would have had a terrible time tearing myself away from that bookshop! ~ Kat
😀 yes!
Lovely day, making the most of shared interests and love of books. Heart rending to part again too.
It is, Adee 😦
That sounds like a seriously fun day – that bookshop is my idea of heaven; and I do like shopping – haha
Haha – I’m so NOT a shopper unless it’s unusual stationery ‘n things – I think a place like Tokyo could possibly convert me into a shopaholic. I hear that they have the most amazing stationery (and lolly) shops).
Thx Gabe 🙂
ps, don’t know how it happened but hubby seems to think I need to collect owls 😉 he got me a giant owl sculpture from the local hardware shop for Christmas – hmmm and the year before he got me a big replica owl (made like the museum sculptures) on a branch 🙂
For Christmas…mmmmm, indeed, hehe. He obviously thinks you are extremely wise and enjoy the company of owls 😯
Fascinating… really enjoyed this. 😉
Thanks 🙂 We had fun.
Oh, how did I miss this utterly wonderful post!!
Hello Monica 😀