a saturday day out: maling road, part one

Hooray, it's almost the weekend! Here is my Saturday from two weeks ago. I won't stop too long to wonder where the time goes etc but it was a lovely day in a lovely part of Melbourne, Maling Road in Canterbury. I was one of a group of Melbourne bloggers invited to spend a day discovering what this street has to offer. We were very lucky with the weather; a beautifully crisp spring day. I wore my 1950's sundress and vintage pink trench coat, with my Gorman rust suede platforms. There were plenty of familiar faces. Hi, Iolanthe, Phoebe and Calvin!  And some new faces, too. This is Sevan – hello! – and darling Leeyong. First things first: time for brunch. I went to Between Us cafe with Sabina. I admit it, I am a total inner-north Melbourne coffee – and cafe – snob. I was so pleasantly surprised, as everything was fantastic. The owner is a lovely young lady who takes coffee making very seriously. And it pays off. The coffee was sooooo good. Easily as good as my favourites in the Norf. As was breakfast. Sabina had salmon. And I had grilled zucchini on sourdough, perfect poached eggs and goats cheese. Yum. We were gifted some teas to try. Don't you just love that packaging? And then there was a pretty cupcake... Many sweet treats. I like the look of the smiley cookie. Would anyone know what I mean if I said "aciiiid" ?!  After brunch, we took a walk up the road. We passed Ruby T's, where we saw a dainty tea set through the window. Radiant Cheryl! Next stop was Coco and Chloe, just a few doors down. Lots of pastel colours to enjoy in here! And umbrellas. The umbrellas seemed to be a bit of a theme. I actually bought a Wet and Wendy on a few days later, after seeing it in here. I'll show you soon! Cutest dog. Hello hi hi! I wish my local green grocers looked more like this. The whole area is really attractive. The buildings are old, which I love to see in Melbourne. I think cities, especially new ones, should hold on to their historical architecture as well as they can. It gives so much character. I was especially pleased to see that a lot of the shops' interiors were not the ugly, cheapo-modern-done-badly renovations inflicted on so many of Melbourne's older buildings. There is a big antiques market! I was almost nervous about going in, as I could lose hours in a place like this. There was everything from tea sets, to records, to furniture, and it was a bit overwhelming! In the nicest way, obviously. The butcher has been there for over 100 years. I miss living near a butcher. I'd like to learn more about different cuts of meat to cook at home, such as the cheaper, less fancy cuts. I think making the most use of animals for eating is really important. But, back to the buildings... ... which have gorgeous tiles! I loved this one at that butchers. Baa! This cafe looked cosy, and its bike looks so much like my one! More beautiful tiles. Even the local supermarket has plain yellow tiles. It reminds me so much of the UK. But, even after that huge brunch, we were getting hungry and thirsty and it was time for coffee and cake... which I'll share in part two.