When CJ and I had been dating six months, we had outdone all our previous relationships by a lot, and we celebrated by going to the Telstra Tower revolving restaurant, Alto. It’s super expensive, but we really enjoyed it, and decided to go back someday, for some major occasion. “Like when I get published,” I said. “Or when we have a kid,” said CJ.
As you may have heard, we recently had a kid. We also recently had a three-year wedding anniversary. And I realised that, since Louisette is partly on formula, we could have her babysat for more than an hour at a time. And voila! We returned to the restaurant. We spent way too much money (sidebar: entry to the tower is $7.50, which must be paid in cash – so make sure you have enough change if you visit), and I had two cocktails (yep, that’s right – two). It was a perfect night.
One of the great things about the Alto restaurant is that, as you drive up the mountain you catch tantalising glimpses of the tower through the trees – and glimpses of the view below too.
In the restaurant, the view is constantly changing as the restaurant revolves, and it’s all beautiful. Canberra is a special city. Believe it or not, the restaurant is quite central (despite all the trees and water).
The food tends to appear as beautifully presented, rich, tiny servings. That’s my appletini on the right.
If you time it right (which we always do) you can also watch the sun set.
The drink on the left is a masquerade, which CJ drank (cream, butterscotch schnapps, and creme de cacao). On the right is mine, featuring Baileys and vanilla vodka.
MmmmmMMMMmmm.
(There are different schools of thought on breastfeeding and alcohol. The middle ground is, “Yeah, it’s okay to have a bit every so often – but try to drink just after a feed so it has time to get out of your system before you pass it on to the baby.”)
So nice to get out without the kids!! Glad you had a good time. The view from up there really is lovely. I don’t actually like Canberra very much, but that is one of its nicer points. hehe
Stace: Sad to say, when you said you don’t like Canberra I automatically thought that’s probably because you’re an interesting person. CJ and I are very easily amused. Canberra suits us fine (except for the cold in Winter).
Oh no, I wouldn’t say particularly interesting!! It’s just that I was forced to move to Canberra, when Melbourne was ‘home’ with all my friends and family close.
Stace: Friends and family is certainly the clincher here – although public service jobs are awfully good too. And national resources, like the library and Questacon.
Ach, I just like Canberra.