On my only night out in Melbourne, I had arranged to meet up with an old friend whom I have never met before. girlstar7 had started reading my blog in 2005 and through comments, emails and instant-messaging we’ve gotten to know each other quite well.

I had arrived at our meeting spot outside the Melbourne Central Mall a little early so I decided to take a walk down Flinders Street, to get a feel of the place and to take some photos. I’ve been to Melbourne 10 years ago and what stayed with me was the architecture and the trams.

melbourne-city-building

chinatown-gate

In this photo, you can see a tram and also the tram rails on the road, and the patch work of electrical lines above it.

flinders-street-tram-lines

Melbourne is known for its shopping, and its sense of style and culture. And there’s a lot of nooks and crannys with shops tucked away.

melbourne-shop

A lot of alleys also have nice street art.

union-lane-graffiti

Then it was time to meet up with girlstar7 at around 9pm.

anna-me

We went to The Lion inside Melbourne Central, and shared a jug of beer and a bowl of nachos.

the-lion-nachos

Considering it was our first time meeting, the initial awkwardness went away pretty quickly. I think the beer helped. Hah!

We talked about how she first stumbled onto my blog, her studies and work. And because she’s been reading me for so long, she knows a lot more about me and my friends than I do about her. One thing I am constantly reminded of during our conversation was that girlstar7 is one of many younger (yes, a whole lot younger) people that I seem to be more in tune with these days. You wanted to know my secret to staying young at heart? That’s my secret. ;)

After that, we took a walk around Flinders Street thinking of the next pub to crawl to. We had walked into The Lounge but they charged cover and we were in a cheap mood so we didn’t go in. girlstar7 then decided on Cookie. It was nice and chill - I loved it.

cookie-bar

I like the decor very much.

cookie-bar-decor

Over two glasses of Hoegaarden we talked a whole lot more. Being a clubber herself, we talked about the Melbourne clubs that open the whole weekend (awesome!), our first times partying, music, and everything else in between.

hoegaarden-candle-light

After Cookie, we then stumbled into St. Jerome but the tiny place was quite packed and noisy so we decided to move on to the next place.

alley-bar

That next place was Transport on the corner of Flinders and Swanston. On the walk down there, one can catch a magnificent view of Flinders Street Station.

flinders-street-station

flinders-street-station-channel-7

This was the outside of Transport.

transport-pub

And this was the inside of Transport.

transport-bar

transport-pub-interior

It was a place with great atmosphere and very nice views. If only the Yarra River didn’t smell that bad that evening. Regardless, that night was a most awesome time. Thanks girlstar7! :)