Majestic dame

December 8, 2013 / Robert / Leave a comment

Located next to Luna Park, St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia, the Palaise is a monument to picture and musical theatre.

When Palais Pictures was built it was one of the largest theatres in the southern hemisphere. It opened on 11 November 1927 with Janet Gaynor in “Seventh Heaven”. Palais Pictures was one of the first suburban cinemas to screen talkies on 3 July 1929.Until the fifties, it was the place to go to the movies.

Written by Palais Theatre Management Pty Ltd, 2013, http://www.palaistheatre.net.au/history.htm/, viewed 8 December 2013

You can see pictures of the inside of the theatre at Palaise Theatre

Out of step

December 6, 2013 / Robert / Leave a comment

We arrived into Tullamarine airport on Wednesday a little behind schedule, that moment was a taste of what was to come. Over the next three days it was as if synchronicity had flown out of the window. We were totally in tune with each other but not with Melbourne. On our own time continuum we enjoyed a memorable anniversary with laughter along the way.

Today the sky cleared, we walked along St. Kilda Road to the beach.

Water

December 5, 2013 / Robert / 6 Comments

The metre of this poem is sadly affected by Chablis, Minervois and Amaro
A water rabbit,
A water tiger,
Go to lunch in rain,
To the Point Restaurant,
Albert Park, Melbourne,
By car not by train.
Sit next to a lake,
White truffle offered,
This time too sublime.
Food wine and service
Totally divine.
Overall we had
Thoroughly great time;
Followed by bubbles
In spa bath growing.

Victorian adventure

December 4, 2013December 5, 2013 / Robert / 11 Comments

I have stayed in converted homes, convents and warehouses, never a car showroom. For our 20th anniversary Mark and I are in Melbourne at the Royce Hotel on St. Kilda Road. This is the closest I have been to being in a Roller. From the sixth floor Royal Suite we can see over the tree tops north to the city skyline. In true Melbournian style it has been raining.

If you visit Melbourne knowing that there can be four seasons in a day you wont be disappointed. It is great for cosy bars, excellent food, elegance and trams. Tonight we went for dinner at Il Bacaro, an old favourite. Where else can you get caught up in truffle mania? Festa del tartufo celebrates the limited availability of the white truffle from Alba, Piemonte, Italy – it was grated and weighed at the table 3 or 5 g.

We began our gastronomic evening with a 1er cru Chablis followed by 2002 1re cru Burgundy and finished with a Hind VSOP cognac.

Related:
Royce Hotel
Il Bacaro

Outsiders

December 3, 2013 / Robert / 5 Comments

Sydney is located on the east coast of Australia, experiencing temperate Winters and warm humid Summers, it is unsurprising that Sydney-siders are fond of being outdoors.

One of the popular destinations for visitors and locals is Bondi Beach.

The above were taken around 4:00 pm on a Tuesday in Spring, I will leave it for you to imagine how busy it gets at the weekend.

Vibrant leaves

December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 / Robert / 3 Comments

There is something engaging about the vibrant colours of the leaves in this picture. For me they conjure images of autumnal evenings, candlelight, flames of an open fire and the smell of pine trees.

First of Summer

December 1, 2013December 1, 2013 / Robert / 9 Comments

While growing up in ’60 s and ’70’s Summer in England was this esoteric amorphous entity, I cannot pin point when it started. Perhaps it relied on nature’s direction; March winds and April showers brought forth May flowers.

Antipodean Summers are different they start on 1 December. Over the time we have lived here some years on the dot of 1/12 the temperature has soared to a point that when you subject yourself to the elements, your body is enveloped in a cocoon of moist warmth.

Not so in 2013 with a top of 23oC it is too cool to go for a dip in the pool.

Stan is happy, his shaggy coat grows by the second.

I hope that you enjoy the pictures I took during his walk around Lewisham and Marrickville.

Stan

Some rocks

November 30, 2013November 30, 2013 / Robert / 2 Comments

I believe that a lighthouse’s credibility is threatened without rocks, here they are…….

Beach scenes framed by nature

November 28, 2013November 28, 2013 / Robert / 6 Comments

Camp Cove to the South Head

November 27, 2013 / Robert / 2 Comments

It is a steady climb from Camp Cove, a section of cobblestones are a reminder of how hard it would have been to manhandle equipment and supplies past Lady Beach to the Hornby Lighthouse. Standing next to this gun looking towards Camp Cove reminded me of Rachel Wards’s World War I TV movie, An Accidental Soldier.

Based on the novel, Silent Parts, by John Charalambous, An Accidental Soldier is about an Australian soldier who flees the carnage of the Western Front and finds refuge with a French woman in a remote farmhouse. Harry Lambert is a shy, thirty five year old Australian soldier, working as a baker behind the lines. He is a gentle man, a reluctant soldier, but a man like many who has been shamed by his local community into joining up. But when he is called into the front line Harry decides to run, finding refuge in a farmhouse owned by Colombe Jacotot, a Frenchwoman in her forties whose husband has abandoned her and whose son has recently been killed. Forced to work in an ammunitions factory, Colombe too is trenchant about the war. Through her Harry will learn true courage. Through him Colombe will learn beauty. Together they will discover a love so strong that each is willing to give their life for it. An accidental soldier is a tender, at times gripping love story between two people who find passion, in all its joy and hurt, at an age when they thought love has passed them by. It is a story of unexpected bravery of countless men and women who would not give up their lives for abstracts like glory, or country. Those who wanted to live for love and life.

– Written by Goalpost Pictures Australia, An Accidental Soldier, IMDb, 2013, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2366614/, viewed 27 November 2013