This post is looooong overdue. These are images from Canberra - our very first group trip with the Australia Studies Centre back in March. I shall make a list of all the important things seen and learned in the capital city of Oz!
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> The name "Canberra" either means "Meeting Place" ..... or "The Valley Between a Woman's Breasts." There is no way to be sure. I wouldn't worry about it.
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> The most important thing at the National Portrait Gallery, I gathered, were not the paintings of diplomats or the depictions of Australia's past royalty ... Nope. Two words to make your heart stop: Heath Ledger. I walked by his photograph several times, and there were always at least 10 girls just sort of gazing at the grandeur of his presence. Glued to his demised magnificence.
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> Senator Barnaby Joyce (Best. Name. Ever.) is excellent at character assessment. He called his opponent, who was playing a game on his iPhone in the middle of their debate, a "Garden Gnome," among other things.
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> We routinely fit all 28 of us into normal-sized elevators. There was much love. There was also just enough oxygen.
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> We were told to NOT roll down the grassy green hill that Parliament House is built into, please. No matter how perfect it would be. It is built that way so that people can politely stand on the hill, and be symbols of how the government is never above the people is represents.
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> Bundanoon, an Aussie city devoid of bottled water, brought to light the possible conspiracy of "Evian," the first company to present the idea of having people pay money for something that is free: Water. "Evian" = "Naive" spelled backwards? Hmmmmmmm-furrowed-brow-of-suspicion.
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> Also, the word "Bundanoon" now officially means "To not drink bottled water" in Flemish. This is key.
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> Not enough time spent at the Art Gallery of Australia! For those of you who join me in knowing some things about artsy-fartsy stuff, there were pieces by Moholy Nagy, Toulouse Lautrec, Josef Albers, Pollack, de Kooning, and some Rothko, among others. (Some gorgeous Picasso line drawings, too!)
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> We visited the War Memorial, which is said to rival London's War Memorial. Also, our trip took us to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy (a bit more about that in my next post).
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To see more pictures of our group, and our time in Canberra, click here. Or visit alessandra-elizabeth.posterous.com.
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