Saturday, November 13, 2010

Canberra- Australia's Capital City


Gram and Pa at Mt Ainslie

We woke up early for our only full day in Canberra. We had cereal and tea for breakfast and got ready to head out for the day. Gram and Pa thought a good start to sight seeing in Canberra was to see the whole city at one time. So we literally drove to the peak of Mount Ainslie and looked over the whole city. It's a beautiful city and it's amazingly well planned. They pointed out the Parliament House, the Old Parliament House, Australian National University, and various other landmarks. Pa explained how the city is planned to line up all the government buildings on 2 intersecting axis. Canberra is not very big and the population is only about 300,000. I think that sounds very small for a capital city. Canberra was built for the purpose of being Australia's capital and was designed by an Italian, American, and and Australian.

Canberra from Mt Ainslie

After Mt. Ainslie, we went over to the Parliament House. It was a really impressive building. I'd been there before but it was still wonderful to see it all again. The Parliament House is literally built into a hill. It's possible to literally walk on the grass to the very top of the parliament house. It was built symbolically to represent its relationship to the Australian people. We took a tour with a tour guide who was very knowledgeable. Most of the stuff in the Parliament House was built out of Australian woods. She pointed out the different types. The Australian Parliament has two houses just like the U.S. They are the House of Representatives and the Senate. The room where the Senate met was a brilliant pink! The House of Representatives was eucalyptus green. The pink represented something but I can't quite remember what it was. There were lots of paintings to representative aspects of the Australian continent. It was really an impressive building. Another fun fact about the Australian government is that they have their first woman prime minister. They refer to her partner (no husband) as the "first Bloke." After the Parliament house, we went home and Gram made us homemade pizza. Liz and I went on a walk and explored their neighborhood (Deakin).

After lunch we went to explore Australian National University. We did that and explored the campus a bit. Its a really nice place. Then we went to The National Museum of Australia and strolled around an Aboriginal art exhibit. A lot of the art was showing the aboriginal stories that told of the arrival of the white man. I thought it was a little bit of a sad story...even if my forebears were part of them. We then went to another museum where we learned about the planning of Canberra. Its a very planned out city. Last, Gram and Pa took us to the Governor Generals Home to look for Kangaroos. We didn't see any but her (yes she's a woman too!) house was magnificent. The Governor General is the Queen of England's representative in Australia. They hold a higher position than even the Prime Minister. I thought that just showed how close the ties were to England still.


Gram and Pa took us home and made us a delicious dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies with ice cream and peaches for dessert. Eating Gram's home cooked meals was one of the most wonderful things about Canberra. Ha another fun fact... Gram and Pa have a Worm Farm. It's literally a farm for worms. It helps them fertilize the yard, flowers, and plants. Liz and I were so curious about the farm...neither of us had ever heard anything about it before. It was a wonderful day in the city of Canberra.


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