Tuesday, Oct 20th, Canberra

Greetings!

The Australian National University was the right place to stay in Canberra.  The University House rents out vacant apartments which are in the middle of student activities, cafes, seminars, and a bus ride from public facilities like botanic gardens, arboretums, galleries, and museums.  The bus system is puzzling, but it stops within reasonable walking distance of most we wanted to see.

But it would be hard to miss the National Museum and Gallery.  These two structures have architectural signatures which demand plenty of attention.

Inside both were outstanding collections of aboriginal and colonial art which complemented the stories and insights we've collected in our travels this trip.  In addition, it provided us with significant planning background on the 70% of the country we aren't seeing this time, and which we hope to get to in the future.

The Parliament building, housing 4,500 rooms, should not be missed.  But what is outside pales with the dynamic contrasts playing out in the inner chambers.  The barely-civil, verbal jousting which occurs during the daily "question time", between the Prime Minister and the Opposition Party membership, is a refreshing dose of partisan politics - served with humor and wit.  As we've recently become devoted "footies", we're beginning to find Australian legislative games a whole lot more enjoyable than ours.

Here is a link to the photos taken over the past two days.  Monday and Tuesday, Oct 19-20th, Canberra, Australia.