Cafe culture moves up two floors...

One of the biggest differences between Europe and Australia is that old European buildings are still lived in and used in everyday life, while Melbourne's oldest buildings often seem to have been reserved for museums, or condemned to crumble into obscurity.

In the year or two before I left last year, that started to change, as Melbourne started to preserve its significant heritage buildings and rediscover its gorgeous past by putting old spaces to new uses. Witness the exotically restored Forum theatre (IMHO the best place in the world to see that most eclectic yet together of Melbourne bands, The Cat Empire), and the redevelopments of the old police station D-24 and the Herald Sun building.

Some of the best new cafes and bars in Melbourne have been installed in formerly derelict offices above central city shops. Places like Cookie, Madame Brussels and upstairs at The Lounge all do a fine and slightly quirky line in food, drink and fun, balconies opening onto leafy green vistas that make the street-level chaos below seem a long way off.

Yes, they can be damn hard to find, but that just adds to their allure - there's nothing like sitting smug with your mates in a suite of battered antique couches, knowing that two more friends are lost in the laneway below, trying to find the door.

I dunno who dreamed up this revitalisation of Melbourne's 'balcony' culture, although I wouldn't mind betting it was someone who lived in a big ol two storey terrace house, sharing a battered couch and some old milk crates with 3 or 4 housemates...