Our last few days in Oz were simple relaxing days...trying to maximize our time with Evelyn. Andrew had to work Monday through Thursday, so Cheri and I baby-sat a little and let Sarah head out for a few errands alone.
Of course we also ended up with a photo that makes Cheri and me chuckle every time we see it...
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One of the mornings we (Cheri, Sarah, Evelyn and myself) walked down to the local coffee shop--Common Grounds. It was a cool Fall morning in Oz so Sarah put a hat on Evelyn...and it sure brings out the Swede in her...
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Tuesday afternoon Cheri and I headed into the City Centre of Canberra to do some sight seeing. We visited the new Parliment Building. Architecturally it is a beautiful building...very little visible on the outside, but well designed on the inside. The building was purposely built into one of the hills in Canberra with a lawn up the sides and over the top of it--the thought being that Parliment should be visible, but not "over" the people.
The House and Senate are on opposite sides of the building and are built in the style of the British Parliment. They chose to keep the same color palette of the British Parliment (green for the House and red for the Senate) only the architect gathered gum tree leaves and used them as the various shades of green and used the spring color of gum tree buds for the shades of red.
We also went onto the roof and I took a photo across the grass mall to the old Parliment Building (the original). Beyond the Old Parliment you can see the red ANZAC Parade leading up to the War Museum. What looks like a tall blue building on the left side of the photo is the Captain Cook Memorial Jet Fountain in Lake Burley Griffin.
We walked down the grass mall, around the old Parliment and then took the Kings Avenue Bridge to the other side of Lake Burley Griffin. On the other side we had good views of the National Clarion (a gift from the British government in 1963 to celebrate Canberra's 50th anniversary), the Captain Cook Jet Fountain, and some black swans.
Our walk then went up the ANZAC Parade and to the War Memorial Museum. This is an outstanding museum that doesn't celebrate war, but memorializes those who have sacrificed in any way for all of us. Arriving late in the afternoon we were not able to spend as much time as we would have liked, but we were there for the daily Last Post
Every day at closing visitors gather in the courtyard for the laying of some wreaths at the reflection pond, the singing of the Australian National Anthem, a Lament played on bagpipes, and then the story behind one of the more than 102,000 names of soldiers written on the walls of the museum is read...a different story every day. Following the reading the Last Post is played by a single bugler to signal the end of the day's activities. It is a very moving event.
From the museum we could also look back across ANZAC Parade, the old Parliment, and up to the new Parliment...a nice end to the day.
Wednesday we were able to squeeze in a ride along some of the many bike paths in Canberra. Paul, Cheri and I headed out from Gowrie (the suburb where Sarah and Andrew live) and peddled about 20 km to the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. From there, if we'd had the time, it would have been several more hours to bike around the lake. Instead we pedaled part way back and stopped for a coffee and cannoli (a very civilized way of biking) before heading back to Gowrie.
That evening was the weekly Walker Family dinner only at Andrew and Sarah's this time. Paul and I jointed forces to make a grilled pork wrapped with bacon...a huge success.
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Thursday was our last full day in Oz and we spent the time doing some last minute shopping (wine, cookies...the essentials). Then we met Andrew in the City for a picnic lunch on a local park...aso some last minute paparazzi time...
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This adventure wound up on Friday with over 30 hours of traveling from Gowrie to Woodstock. We caught a 9am (7 pm on Thursday in Woodstock) bus from Canberra to Sydney Interational Airport. Our flight left at 2:57 pm (local time) Friday afternoon, and we landed in San Francisco at 11:30 am (local time) Friday morning...we flew east from Sydney faster than the earth rotated in the opposite direction...so with crossing the date line we arrived before we left.
It was then a flight to Boston and a car ride back to Woodstock arriving home around 1 am Saturday morning. The end of another great adventure.
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