Today was our day to explore the city. We opted for a tour
bus so we could really see it all. Of course, we missed the first bus and had
about an hour to kill. This was the perfect time to take a quick walk up City
Hill Lookout, where you can see a
straight shot down the main road all the way to the parliament house.
We also
ran into another local that gave us the history of Canberra, including the fact
that an American, Burly Griffin, designed the city and that the sculpture we
had been looking at was in fact a time capsule.
Finally we spotted a bus and
hopped on. We were able to see the old parliament house, the new parliament
house, the national library, the art museum, and the hotel Lyndon Johnson stayed
at. We also went by all the national embassies here in the city, since this is
Australian’s capital. It was so interesting to see the way each country was
reflected in their embassy building. For example, the U.S.A’s embassy resembled
the white house and was the largest embassy by far, which I think says a lot
about America.
The
only place we stopped and actually explored was the Australian War Memorial.
This place was amazing. When you walk up the front steps, you go into an open
courtyard with a reflecting pool down the middle and an eternal flame in honor
of those who never made it home at the end.
Then, along each side are two
hallways that contain the roll of honor, where the name and age of every person
who gave their lives in war are listed. For each name, there is a red poppy in
their honor as well.
At the end of the yard, there is an open room where the
tomb of the Unknown Soldier is laid. The ceiling resembles that of an Italian
cathedral and is painted to represent heaven, to allow the souls of the lost
safe passage. Once you actually go inside the memorial, there are hundreds of
beautiful displays walking you through Australia’s various wars and battles,
including solider uniforms, barracks, and various weapons. It’s so interesting
to read about WWI and II from a different perspective and to remember that
there were a lot of things going on in this time that our own history books
don’t cover.
Once
we made it back to the villas, we settled onto our porches for some euchre and
sunshine. We had made it through about two games when we started seeing a
massive rush of people, all clad in green, headed just north of our park. One
word was repeated over and over: Rugby. Being the adventurous people we are, we
jumped in the line and followed the crowd about a mile down the trial until it
opened up to the huge GIO Stadium. Already we could hear the crowd screaming.
Our student ID’s got us a discount on general admission and we made our way to
our seats. The first thing I noticed was how close to the field the seats were.
In American stadiums (football, soccer, or otherwise) it also seems that the
seats are higher up than the field. But not here. We were right down in the
action. We discovered that the green/blue Canberra Raiders were up against the
black/red New Zeeland Warriors. In
case you’re not a big rugby fan, I’ll give you a quick rundown: similar to
football, there is throwing and kicking. Except you can kick (punt) it at any
time and you can only throw backwards, which makes rugby a big running game.
Additionally, there is tackling but there are no pads or helmets. And just
because you get the ball carrier down doesn’t mean you’re finished with him
because if you can knock the ball out of his hands and it hits the ground, then
they lose possession. To score, you have to run the ball into the “endzone” for
4 points. Then you get the chance to kick for 2 additional points, but you kick
from the side. Additionally, it’s quite fast. The plays end and start within
seconds of each other. There are only two 40-minute halves and the clock
doesn’t stop. What wasn’t different was the fan reactions though. Lots of
screaming and booing and cheering, made me feel right at home. |
| Tried to get a pic w/the cutout of the team captain but it was too tall! |
 |
| Me with the Raiders mascot in the background |
