Apartment Alkira – Boutique Melbourne Short Stay Accommodation

…and now you can.  The recently launched Melbourne Bike Share scheme has these spunky cobalt blue two wheelers dotted all over the CBD, just waiting for your bottom – plump or boney – to nestle itself on the amply comfy seat.

Over the next few months, the roll-out plan will see 600 bikes available across 50 stations in Melbourne’s city.  Check out the website for locations and pricing.  One wee (or not-so-wee) drawback is that you’ll need to bring your own helmut, which, admittedly could be a drag if you’re renting Apartment Alkira, our short stay apartment and you’re coming from Switzerland (something of a drag on the plane).

http://www.melbournebikeshare.com.au/

This inducement to good health and exercise

was brought to you by Apartment Alkira, Melbourne’s own Art Deco Short Stay Apartment.

Cutler & Co
Gertrude St
Fitzroy

Swing past this place during daylight hours and you might think you’re passing a mafia hang out or swanky advertising agency.  Understated and utilitarian at first glance, this gastronome’s pleasure palace sparkles and shimmies best in the evening hours.

An elegant yet raw aesthetic plays perfectly in what could be a cavernous space.  Any hard edges are softened by the lovely staff as they swan you over to the bar – or shmooze you to your table.  But the real sparkle and shimmy begins when your meals hit the table.  Devine and sublime combinations of gorgeous fresh produce coaxed to virtuosic performances by highly skilled food-loving souls.  A real treat.

More thoughts on eating brought to you by
Melbourne’s tastiest Short Stay Accommodation Venue – Apartment Alkira

Melbourne is a city of many things. Coffee. Excellent Food. Prized Grafitti. Sport (yawn). Trams. The ‘Yellow Peril’ (don’t ask, it’s a long story). Shopping. Daggy cruises down the Yarra. Arty precincts. Laneways. And Laughs.

Well at least in April. For almost the whole month, very funny people from far and wide (and some from just up the street) have a crack at making Melbournians (and our guests) laugh. And the people they love it. Last year attendance almost hit 500,000, and with the continued gloominess precipitating a need to be amused, there are predictions that this year’s comedy crowd will be mammoth.  Just for the record, according to ‘look forward’, Melbourne’s Comedy Festival now officially outranks The Grand Prix and The Melbourne Cup as one of the biggest events of the calendar.

So, where to go and what to do, to score yourself one of those laughs. Ot at least a little snigger/giggle/shoulder shake. First stop should be the Comedy Festival Website. But if you’ve feeling spontaneous and want to court serendipity, you can just rock up to the Melbourne Town Hall (corner of Collins and Swanston) or the Halftix booth slightly to the north of the fancy Town Hall building, and see who’s on. Melbourne’s daily paper “The Age” is worth checking out too – as a major sponsor, it gives the festival a good guernsey.  Off you go. Giggle your way to a new tomorrow.

Melbourne Comedy Website

Hype courtesy of Apartment Alkira -
Melbourne’s best boutique short-stay apartment accommodation.

Gluttony.  Yes, most of the time I feel bad about it.   Not, however, during one fortnight in March, when the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival consumes the city and insists upon its wholehearted worship. A little-known fact about the festival is that food and wine consumed during it’s fortnight reign has absolutely no calorific content. Shortstay visitors and locals alike should feel free to gorge with immunity.  What better time to find accommodation in such a sinful city.  Check out programme details at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival website.

This incitement to naughtiness is brought to you by your shortstay apartment specialist – Apartment Alkira.

A terrific resource for any visitor to Melbourne – be it for a “short-stay” or “long”, www.threethousand.com is a fab website profiling off-beat and slightly obscure Melbourne happenings.

They don’t do advertorials so you can be sure what’s recommended hasn’t been tainted by the lure of advertising pennies. For a good guide to what’s on in Melbourne, where to eat (though not where to stay!), check it out. If you’re feeling keen you can subscribe to a regular email update of great things to do/see/buy in Melbourne. You won’t find Melbourne accommodation suggestions but there’s loads of other goodness.

www.threethousand.com

“How to get to the best bits of Melbourne”, brought to you by a
groovy Melbourne apartment – Apartment Alkira

A five minute meander from Apartment Alkira, along the banks of the Yarra and over to the other side brings you to an odd space that is the Victorian Arts Centre’s “Blackbox”. This dark cavernous space seems to have multiple personalities – theatre venue for the odd fledgling production, cabaret venue from time to time, and her current incarnation as gallery space for a contemporary new media art show.

Way ‘funner’ than its title would suggest Experimena Utopia Now, International Biennial of Media Art uses ‘new media’ – digital, robotic, internet, screen-based, interactive – to mull over the fact that our lives are constantly being altered by new forms of technology.  No biggie, I know.  But there are some fun interpretations, including a hanging garden of plants that respond musically to human touch and movement and an animated impression of your facial expressions via a direct link from you sitting in a chair to an on-screen animation.  Thirty international artists are involved in this playful show which showcases current thinking in new media art.

So maybe you wouldn’t normally hunt something like this down, but with a healthy dose of humor and at the very affordable price of…well…nothing, this free show is worth poking your head into (en route to a glass of bubbles or a cooling lager at Southbank perhaps?).

Experimenta Utopia Now
International Biennial of media art
The Arts Centre,  Blackbox
12 February 2010 – 14 March 2010
FREE!

Experimenta Website

Another “what’s on in Melbourne” update by the short letting
accommodation specialists at Apartment Alkira – have fun!

A summer-time only pursuit.  Kick back under a velvety back sky atop  Melbourne’s iconic “Curtin House” and watch that movie you’ve always meant to catch.  The eclectic program offers something old, something new, something borrowed and sometimes something blue.  Comfy deck chair seating and food and drinks available.  Viewing Melbourne’s urban landscape from pidgeon position is offered at no extra charge.  Rooftop cinema runs from the end of November to the end of March.  Weather permitting.

Rooftop Cinema Website

This recommendation comes compliments of Apartment Alkira – a fine example of Melbourne Apartment Accommodation.

If you feel up to a gamble, but the Casino’s not quite your thing, saunter off to the inner city suburb of Carlton and try your luck at one of Australia’s oldest fringe theatre venues – La Mama.  Set up in 1967, La Mama has been gracious hostess to an enormous number of new  Australian works for theatre for over four decades. Some have been knock outs; edgy, insightful, inspiring,  others rather dreary numbers.  It’s something of a lucky dip, but at very reasonable door prices and with the sense of ‘cultural community’ the theatre embodies, it’s worth dipping and hoping you don’t get the trashy plastic frog.

Latest shows: http://www.lamama.com.au/

23 Degraves St,
Melbourne

Degraves Espresso Bar was the original glint in the eye of Melbourne’s Grand Pa Pa of Cafe Culture, Con Christopoulos many moons ago. This was way before Melbourne grew itself a name for sneaky laneways and serious ‘tude about its caffeine scene.  Things have moved on a little since then and Con has extended his reach into other corners of Melbourne, but the Grande Dame of the cobble-stoned laneway still pumps out good espressos to CAE students and the city’s workers.  Light meal options.  And of course cake.

Degraves Details

This review brought to you by the people who like to munch their way through the
wonderful cafes and eateries of Melbourne’s CBD.  Apartment Alkira.

The tardy service and slightly sticky tabletops might put you off dining at Bokchoy Tang, but if you can get past that, the food will reward you well for your tenacity. Set back in an anonymous-looking multi-level building at the rear of Federation Square, Bokchoy Tang feels like it would really rather not be discovered. But that would be a shame as the food is great – and Chinese food without MSG is hard enough to find. It’s nice to be able to nibble away without fear of the potential side-effects of MSG over-load.

Review courtesy of Apartment Alkira – Melbourne Short Stay Apartments
- CDB based Accommodation in gorgeous Queen Street.