A Glimpse of Ellen

I don't know how it happened, but our Melbourne itinerary somehow collided with Ellen DeGeneres when she was in Australia.  The girls and I had a whole day to spare in the city and it just happened to be the day Ellen was making an appearance for her show!  

We had planned a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria but alas, the gallery is closed on a Tuesday (I swear it used to always be closed on a Monday!) so we thought we might head on down to Birrarung Marr, behind Federation Square, to see (if we could) perhaps catch a glimpse, or at least hear the Talk Show Legend.  But when we approached the corner of Federation Square and the Yarra River our hearts slumped.  

The que was unbelievable....  I sent this pic to MrL who was on the other side of Australia, probably with the caption "look at this line!!!"

Thousands of people.

I suggested to the girls we take a seat outside near an outside stage and screen as it was pretty obvious that there was no way we would make it inside the the formal stage where things were going to happen.

The crowd kept building up with a lot of people having the same idea and the formal line being told that the stage area was now closed.

It wasn't too long before the Queen arrived.  There was a big buzz in the air.  And she acknowledged the people who couldn't/didn't get into the main arena.

Can you see her there waving?  And that's her mum across from her and wife Portia climbing the stairs ahead in a pretty red dress.  (She too did turn around and wave - she is a Melbourne girl after all!)

Monet and I were particularly thrilled.  Lily?  Nah.  She had no idea.

After watching a bit of the recording on the big screen ahead of us I was faced with two hungry and restless daughters.

But I soon put a stop to that.

My Ploughman's lunch went down a certain treat and the girls enjoyed their meals too.

A fantastic day.

Melbourne

MrL started a new job, which is interstate.  Since he was going to be absent over the Easter Break, we decided that the girls and I should spend some time in Melbourne City and then go to country Victoria to stay and visit with family.

I pulled Monet out of school for a few days so she began her Easter School Holidays a good four days before the rest of her classmates.  (Lucky her!)  The girls were very excited to be getting back into a plane again and heading to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights, let alone to be seeing their Grandparents and Cousins.  

Melbourne greeted us with beautiful Autumn weather.  

Flinders Street Station

We had a lovely time, strolling around.

And I had two, well, one especially, child/ren get very excited to see outside the art gallery an upcoming exhibition...  But unfortunately for us, the Gallery is closed on a Tuesday.

The girls had great fun touching the huge pane of water glass.  I remember doing this when I was a young girl.

We did a little shopping and I forgot where we were when we hit Myer.  It has changed a lot over the years.

We ate out for the two nights we were there and we all sat and watched the world go by.

The sun setting behind The Rialto

Puppy-arazzi at Federation Square

Tea Rooms in The Block Arcade

We loved our two days, two nights in Melbourne town ; it's been too long since I enjoyed the great city.  And as a bonus we saw Ellen!  But that's another post.