Melbourne Christmas: Myer windows, Gingerbread village, Lego tree etc

We went to the city earlier this week to see the Christmas decorations.  Read on to see the fun festive sights of Melbourne.  Above is the Lego Christmas tree in Federation Square.  I love the Aussie touches of Santa with a surfboard and the koala up the tree.

Of course there are lots of Christmas trees in the city.  We walked along Swanston Street to City Square where we ate dinner from Lord of the Fries (on Swanston Street).

It was too late to see Santa but there was a fun photo board and fantastic yarn bombing on the trees.

Over Collins Street, The Melbourne Town Hall is wrapped up like a present.  Sylvia had fun with her reindeer antlers and a giant wooden solder.

To the side of the Town Hall is a Gingerbread Village.  We visited a couple of years ago.  It was slightly different but pretty similar.  Amazing to view even having seeing it before. 

The St Kilda beach is a new addition to the exhibition.  We were a bit concerned about the swimmer in the bottom right of the photos!  Shark alert?

The attention to detail is incredible.  I love all the little shops and the people out and about enjoying themselves in the gingerbread village.

The exhibition includes some Melbourne icons such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (above) and the Arts Centre Spire.

The most impressive Melbourne icon is Luna Park.  I love all the little folk riding the scenic railway.

Next stop was iconic Melbourne department store, Myers.  My dad and my sister worked there years ago and it was a place we often shopped as kids.  And at Christmas we always went to see the wonders of the window displays.  They often had fairy tales but in recent years have been less impressive as they seem to have been promoting books rather than creating magic.

This year was undoubtedly one of the best Myer Christmas windows I have seen and if you haven't been there and you can then I highly recommend you go, preferably in the evening when the queues aren't keeping you there an hour.

The 2016 Myer Christmas window display follows the story in a book called Little Dog and the Christmas Wish by Corinne Fenton.  However for the 60th anniversary of the Christmas windows, the display has little people wearing gorgeous 1950s fashions and Melbourne icons.  I only took my phone so the photos are not great quality.

This window really delighted me.  It is a vignette of a crowd viewing the Myer Christmas windows in 1956.  This scene then turns around to reveal the mechanical workings of the old fashioned windows display.

A typical Melbourne streetscape with trams, brollies and what I guess is an FJ Holden. 

Then into the Block Arcade.  It is one of my favourite places in the city with its gorgeous mosaic floor and graceful arches.

And the grand dame of The Block Arcade would have to be the Hopetoun Tea Rooms.  Most times I pass it there is a queue.  I am not one for queues but I often pass by slowly to enjoy the cake display and promise myself that I will go there soon.  It is many years since I visited. 

Flinders Street Station is another favourite Melbourne icon.  Meeting under the clocks is a Melbourne tradition.   Some years back, the railways tried to digitise the train times at this entrance.  There was such an outcry that they backed down and kept the clock faces we all know and love.

I think this Myer Christmas windows is successful because it beautifully combines 1950s Melbourne and the magic of Christmas.  If I have time I will be back to see these windows displays again.

Then we went up to the 6th floor "giftorium" where Sylvia visited Santa.  Again we were there about 6.30 and there were no queues.  I really like Myers' retro aesthetic this year (see the above elevator doors).  Unfortunately it seems that someone forgot to tell the music department and I couldn't wait to leave because of the loud techno version of Christmas carols.

Here are a few other Christmas pictures from another city trip for present shopping.  I have a soft spot for Le Creuset so I was pleased to see they had a lovely festive display including gingerbread houses.  After decorating a few gingerbread houses I spent some time checking out how they did theirs.

I hope you are enjoying the delights of the festive season.  We've got lots going on here.  I've sung carols at a Christmas party, we decorated our tree and Sylvia dressed as Santa for her end of year party today.  She finishes school on Friday when E has his end of year work party.  And then Saturday threatens to be 39 C which has thrown our weekend plans into disarray and made me despair at finding our air conditioner is not working!  We are glad we fitted in a trip to the city this week before the school holiday craziness hits next week.

If you are after Christmas recipes, check out my Christmas menu ideas and my Christmas gift ideas posts.