This weekend a former exchange teacher here in Canberra (she exchanged to Kamloops) hosted a weekend for exchangers. I was semi-host as I provided lodgings for a couple of the exchangees. It was awesome showing people how great Canberra is, especially since so many Australians ask me, "Were you disappointed when you found out you go Canberra?". It was a very busy and exhausting weekend but I thinkI managed to see more of Canberra in two days, than I have in 2 and a half months.
It all started with a drive to the top of Mount Ainslie. It has the best view of Canberra. Down below, at the base, is the War Memorial. As you go straight up the orange median you can see Lake Burley Griffen. As you continue south, the old Parliament leads right up into the new Parliament. This is my favorite part of Canberra. In the background, you can see the Australian Alps. Off to the left, and over the hill is out where I live.
After breakfast at Mt. Ainslie, we went to the National Art Gallery, which was fantastic. We saw a Jackson Pollock and various other famous artists. Most of our tour was spent learning about Aboriginal Art. I learned quite a bit, but I'm not going to go into details. Let's just say that I've never really looked at Aboriginal art the right way, and I'm not sure that I can even interpret alot of it now. It also made me want to learn a little bit more about Canadian aboriginal art as I'm starting to think that I haven't been looking at that right either. Some of the contemporary Aboriginal Art was very enlightening as well. I'm sure that a lot of it could have been created in Canada as well. One artwork, called Austracism, had lines of text that all started with "I'm not racist but....." and then finished with some things that I've said about our own native groups.
After the gallery, I walked with an American exchange teacher named Susan to the War Memorial. I gave her a quick and dirty history lesson using American, Australian and Canadian facts I know about many of the battles and wars that are portrayed at the memorial. This is still one of my favorite places to go in Canberra. I think I'll probably spend many a rainy day here in the year that I will spend here. I still don't think I've seen much of it, or I've missed something. I also bought books on Australian involvement in WW1 as well as an entire book on Gallipoli. I'm sure I'll have to go back after I read those too. (P.S. Ian, do you want an Australian Army hat?).
On Sunday, we had breakfast down by the Carillon at Lake Burley Griffen and then walked our way around the lake to Floriade, the spring festival here in Canberra. Mom, you would have loved this. There are flowers everywhere and they've put them into designs like Watermelons and Farmer's Market Stalls, etc. There are also cool shops down there and I managed to spend too much money on things I didn't need. The good news is I got some cool Christmas presents for people.
The weekend ended with a trip to the Glassworks factory and the Kingston markets. I'm also going to have to sign up for the Artist off the Street program they have at the glassworks so that I can make a cool glass souveneir to take home with me. I can pretend I'm an artist for a while.
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