Canberra Tuesday 2/19/08

Our blog posting has been seriously hampered by a lack of connectivity but we will attempt a burst here to catch up.

Canberra (pronounced Can-bra) is the national capital of Australia. It was selected in the early 1900’s as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, and because it is inland and cannot be attacked by sea. When picked, Canberra was a town with five families and fifty-one people. It is like putting Washington D.C. in Manhattan Beach, Minnesota. By the end of WWII it was all the way up to 15,000 folks, mostly federal employees, and in 1988 the real parliament was built on 80 acres of land set aside at the founding. Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) which is much like the District of Columbia but with representation in Parliament, and now boasts a population of 350,000 making it the largest city in inland Australia.

Our day started with finishing leftover fruit and peanut butter and getting an early start (for us) on the town. We stopped into the info center for a map and began a very long hike from downtown to capital hill. This approach to the capital is certainly not pedestrian friendly and it was a very long walk over wide bridges and dramatic vehicle approaches. We did see traffic coming toward us stopped on the approach bridge for a convoy of government vehicles that we assumed included the Prime Minister. We waved as they sped by. We skewed right as we reached the capital grounds to wander around the embassies and said hello to our US ambassador (actually a guard at the outer gate who gave us the boot).

We made it into the parliament building after several false tries, any of which could have lead to a tazering, and signed up for the noon tour. Uniquely, we were encouraged to snap away with our cameras as we were lead throughout the entire capital including both chambers of parliament. They have a senate that consists of 12 senators from each of the six states and two each from the two territories for a total of 76. The lower house consists of 150 representatives whose constituencies are based on population. Their third arm of government is the representative of the Queen (of England) who is there to rubber stamp the activities of the parliament. The form of government is described as "Washminster," a cross between Washington and Westminster. Our tour guide is on his final tour before heading back to his native Tasmania to become a political reporter and commentator for his local TV station. He does have a bit of Hugh Grant manner of speech and charm and there is a little ceremony by his cohorts at the end of the tour. On behalf of the United States of America we thank him for his service and ask that he speak kindly of us in his future career.

We stand in line for a cold Asian chicken wrap at the cafe and the magpies get most of our shared bag of chips that blows away. We have booked tickets for the 2:00 session of Parliament which is "The Question" session in the lower house. Everyone shows up for this every afternoon except Friday including all of the government ministers, the shadow (opposition) ministers, the Prime Minister and all the members of the House who are there to present "questions" on behalf of the people. This is a raucous, mad-cap free-for-all with the members hollering at each other and all sorts of posing and posturing. The Treasurer was especially inept (couldn't quite come up with the amount of state debt) and the opposition, smelling blood in the water, were merciless in their attack with laughs and hoots and various hand gestures. And we thought Spamalot was zany.
We sneak out of the wrestling match at about 3:00 and take the elevator up to the roof. The structure is the result of a worldwide design contest and sits on high ground that had been set aside as capital hill. The hill was excavated, the parliament building was built, and then the hill was replaced over the building. The only portions of the building that are exposed are the entries and the rounded roof with several pyramid sky lights like the Louvre in Paris. Everything else is underground and under grass.

It seems like a shorter walk back to the city but still a couple miles. We hit the main downtown mall with all the big stores and look for someplace for haircuts. We are referred to Anton's (Canberra hairdresser of the year in 2006) and while John gets a friendly protege, Mary gets Anton his own self. John emerges looking like a reasonable representation of himself while Mary has become the fashion model. Hot, hot, hot. Anton is overpriced and worth every penny.
Our generous choice of restaurants has now expanded because Anton (who is from near Rome and we think therefore must be Antony) has his own opinions and we are once again treated to Italian. We share a Caesar salad and garlic bread and Mary has an angel hair with shrimp and John a spiral pasta with red sauce and sausages. The pub crawl University kids show up again and our waiter explains that this is "O" week for orientation. The government wants the kids to get acquainted so they fund this pub crawl for the first week of the school year. As our waiter said, this is especailly valuable training since the kids are going to be there drinking for six years anyway so they may as well learn how to do it right. Amen brother.

We try to have a beer at our hotel bar when we get back but the one server is doing lattes for a table of 8 so we hit the beer in the minibar in the room. Same price, more comfortable.

Sad note: We have just found out that we have lost our second Golden Retriver Pal while on this trip. We will miss both Bo and Sax.

Today's local headline: Cold war's last warrior steps down The Age (Castro announces resignation)