Christmas

For christmas eve Anja and I made the plan to have a completely different christmas than we have at home in order not to miss it. We therefore took off to brighton beach which is about 1 hour and 30 minutes of foot walk further along the coast from the famous St Kilda beach. We figured we could make that walk and then go to Luna Park in St Kilda before we take a train to Williamstown to take up our dinner reservation. Although it was only 23 degrees warm the sun burnt hot enough for us to feel too warm.

 The beach was lovely and with our Santa hats we attracted a few kids wondering wether we were Santa's helpers. On our stroll we found a starfish, dead jellies and beautiful shells and of course walked past the famous Brighton beach houses.

By the time we felt hungry for lunch we had already been on the beach for about an hour but still would have had to walk 75 more minutes to get to St Kilda. An amount of time we didn't have. Luckily the father and his two girls whom we asked for the next bus station offered to simply take us to Luna Park and save us the trouble. You won't believe how happy we were.

Luna Park is a very old very small theme park with a few attractions. One ride on any attraction costs 10,95 dollars. Well, it was christmas so we allowed ourselves three of those rides and chose a water slide due to the hot weather, a swirly head down thing which Anja know from die Wies'n and the famous scenic railway which runs along the outside of Luna Park. This one is a over 100 year old roller coster which wasn't fast or very steep (it had a 'driver' standing in between the carts), but when going down it basically hops up and down quickly and makes you hit knees and elbows everywhere if you are not prepared. That was pretty scary the first time then. We only spend around an hour in the park because waiting times for scenic railway took 30 minutes, otherwise we probably would have been done way earlier. It was alright this way and we could take our time to get to the next beach in Williamstown.

Siren's is a sort of nicer restaurant which we decided to treat ourselves with. It is located right on the beach and sitting outside it offered a spectacular view of the sea and setting sun. The price turned out fine too, although we decided on a three course menu for christmas because we shared the food. How can anyone eat a three course menu by themselves anyway? As an entree we ordered focaccia with house made dips. Our favorite was a beet root dip (I was very surprised by myself), then the hummus and the tsatziki and well, then there was the pumpkin blue cheese dip. Which.. I found Anja brave to eat more than one taste from. Confusingly they served the entree and the main at the same time so the dips actually had to wait and we started with our tiger prawns on penne and with a basil cream and tomato sauce. Sooo yummy. Our dessert we ordered after having a short rest and chat and then shared a wonderful tiramisu with strawberries and chocolate.

Once the sun set we returned to the family home and joined right into a traditional Ukrainian christmas celebration with twelve courses of little nibbly things (so not full meals) and while I didn't like the beet root soup I did like potato mash in noodle dough with sour cream and the carol singing afterward. Chris and their friend Alison played guitar and the kids had lots of rhythmic instruments to keep time. By the time everything was cleared up again and Anja and I had finished making our christmas movie it was late in the morning and we were sooo tired. That is why this blog post is up so late.

To all of you a merry christmas,
Skipper and munchkin