Sarah rolled the clock one more time and landed at 32, she told me she wanted to go to the city so that's where we went. We have only really spent time in Southbank but we knew there was much more to Brisbane so we sussed it out. Some people go to the country to breathe, I think we are the type of people who go to the city. I can't explain it yet, because my heart is in the mountains but I feel at home in a city. We got a "doesn't look the way it did online" room in the CBD and split out two days up between downtown action and exploring the neighborhood of The West End. I spent some time online reading food blogs and Trip Advisor and got a list of GOOD places to eat that also looked the part. What I found is a mountain of places that are "very Ballard" with tons of character and well designed interiors. I landed on The Survey Co. for Sarah's birthday dinner and we were greeted with exposed brick walls, wood beams, cork floors, and reclaimed lighting from some sort of factory. It had a real Staple and Fancy vibe to it from decor to cuisine. I think I found the Ethan Stowel of Brisbane. The food was very meaty but god damn what a meal! Best thing we have eaten in Australia. Blackened brussel sprouts with bacon, soft blue cheese polenta, duck breast with red cabbage, apple and fig, eye fillet with pink pepper sauce, and a cauliflower soup - FANTASTIC! They wouldn't let you take home your leftovers though which was bullshit because we ordered way too much food and it wasn't cheap. Guess it is some law because some jackass got sick once on raw food - how American is this?
The West End is kinda hippie, kinda hipster but very offered what we were looking for. We took at City Cat which is this high speed passenger ferry from the CBD to Southbank and huffed the rest of the way to there. It was a nice walk and a chance to see some of the housing in the area. We found great pizza (Hillbilly Chilli) at The Burrow, amazing beers at Archive Beer Boutique, and had incredible bloody mary's at The End. All places offered amazing decor with great vibes and staff, the kind of places you just hang out at all day. Brisbane is a very cool place, but it didn't bring us the same lust that Sydney does. It is almost trying to hard to create culture where you can't manufacture such a thing, it has to be natural.
We topped off the birthday weekend at our amusement park for our last run of fun. The rain stopped just in time and we jumped right on our favorite ride. It was a slow day and the attendants ran it twice for us! I am going to miss the Tower of Terror 2, best ride ever. Sarah got the same double-trouble-treatment at the bumper cars, which made her one happy birthday girl. I love June 10th.
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