Visiting Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Friday April 5 was another beautiful day.  Blue sky and a high of 28C.

Picture of the heritage apartment building where we are staying. 
It was such a beautiful day that we decided to stay outdoors and explore the Fortitude Valley neighbourhood not too far from us.  We are staying on a very long street called Ann Street.  If we walk one way, we are quickly into the heart of the city, if we walk the other way, we get to Fortitude Valley.

We first go through Brisbane's small Chinatown area.  We passed a commemorative bell dedicated to "all Australian Service Personnel-past and present, especially those of Chinese Heritage."  It was unveiled by the Brisbane Mayor in March 2007.

Chinatown 
Commemorative Bell

We passed an interesting mix of architecture on our walk.
Corner styles
There are also a number of lanes that run off Ann Street.  Bakery Lane was especially 'sweet'.  It opened in early 2015.  It was named after a Bakery that operated for over 40 years starting in 1865  from that site on Ann Street.  Material from old Queenslander homes slated for demolition was used in the refurbishment of the laneway.

Bakery Lane

Botanical Lab- florist store in Bakery Lane
Cakes & Sh*t -bakery
We also checked out Winn Lane, which prior to 2010 was nothing more than a disused space.
There was a plaque outlining the history of the lane.


Winn Lane was full of people eating out at small restaurants, including a popular hamburger place.

We passed a very modern office building with a Lamborghini showroom on the main floor.


We continued our walk to James Street- where there are a number of high-end Australian fashion stores, restaurants and other shops.  It is an open-air shopping area.   We headed around the corner to quiet Arthur Street to the King Arthur Cafe (another recommended spot)  for our late lunch.  We were there at about 1:50 p.m.  The server asked us if we wanted coffee or whether we were on to beer/wine time.

Australians drink their coffee early (coffee shops open as early as 6:30 a.m. (Brisbane coffee shops open very early probably due to warm weather) and often stop serving coffee at 3:00 p.m.  Most coffee shops close though some with more extensive menus turn to serving drinks.  We arrived in time for our coffee and brekkie food (as they call it).


King Arthur Cafe

We were able to eat outside and look at the palm trees further down the street.   It is really difficult to contemplate heading back to cold Toronto on Sunday.
Gorgeous "Arthur Benny"--- free range eggs, different mushrooms and greens and a wonderful vegan hollandaise sauce


Close up
We wandered about checking out some more stores and then stopped for a sorbet at Gelato Messina- one of the best gelato stores in Australia.  They have a beautiful store in one of the outdoor shopping malls on James Street.  We shared a blood orange sorbet- very refreshing.

Gelato Messina
We stopped at an up-scale grocery shop and bought some fish for dinner.  It has been great to try new southern hemisphere fish.

We walked back to the apartment, had a short rest and then headed out to the Noosa Chocolate Factory store to buy some after dinner treats.   The buildings were all lit up in the Queen Street Mall.  Because Brisbane is on Standard time, sunrise is very early (5:59 a.m.) and so is sunset (5:39 p.m.).  It seems strange to have 24C in the dark at 6:00 p.m.

Queen Street Mall just after sunset - lots of people out- many eating dinner already- Australians eat very early

We went back to the apartment, had a rest, and then Alain made a fish dinner, accompanied by some good Australian beer.

Saturday April 6 is our last full day in Brisbane.  We are going to the Gallery of Modern Art to see the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9).  It will be a busy day and we are also going out to dinner.  We have an early flight to Vancouver, a long lay over and expect to be back in Toronto late on April 7.  I will do the last post of the trip from Toronto on April 8, following our return.  It has been an awesome adventure.  

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