Little big adventure. Day 12 aka "C3"

I left the most delicious thing for my last day in Canberra - The Parliament of Australia. It is open to the public, and generally if you come on the day of parliamentary debate, you will be allowed to view it from the gallery. I did not expect any debates happening on 6th of January, but the good thing is that you can take photos inside the chambers.

From the nearby street it looks as if Parliament House stands right in the middle of the forest or bush. View of Parliament House from a nearby street.

In reality, there is quite an impressive lawn in front of the PH (called Federation Mall or something) which balances Anzac Parade on the other side of the lake.

Federation Mall

The entrance was open and free. This was the first time in Australia I had my bag scanned on entry (Hey, MPs are not even sitting today, what is this security about?) I missed the guided tour, but caught up with it while it was still in the House of Representatives chamber (which was, unsurprisingly, green). We then followed to the Senate chamber (yep, you're right, the red one!). The guide explained that HOR produces the bills, while Senate checks and approves them. The two chambers are required because MPs - members of parliament - are selected on a population-based scheme, so more populated states (i.e. NSW and Victoria) get more MPs, so to guard interests of the less-populated states, senators are elected in equal numbers (twelve) from each state. Confusing.

House of Representatives.

Senate

The halls inside the building are very spacious and filled with light. On the walls there are portraits of the previous Prime Ministers. There were so many actually, so they all won't fit. As soon as there is a newcomer, the last one's portrait is removed to give room. Interestingly, as I found out from labels under the portraits, one of the PMs lasted only a few days - Frank Forde. Yeah, political life in Australia is very lively.
After reading all information available on stands in the hall (which is not too much), I went to the roof. To my surprise it was covered with grass. The massive spire with the flag is mindbogglingly enormous.  The views are astonishing. You can see all the Canberra inner city and most of the surrounding suburbs. From up here, it is clear that Canberra is really a garden city. Everything around is green, and filled with trees, interrupted only occasionally with a road or apartment building.

Hall inside Parliament House

The bottom half is actually grass on the roof of Parliament House building. Note how Federation Mall (lawn on the right) is matched by Anzac Parade of the other side of the lake

The huge flag on top

After leaving the Parliament, I went to the city (a good one hour walk, especially if you forget to cut corners). Got some packed fast food with me and went down to the lake shore to enjoy my lunch in the shadows and with a nice view. On my way back I noticed a sign indicating that "National Bonsai and Pinjing collection" is just 50 meters away. Out of sheer curiosity I dropped in. The man at the front desk was quite surprised to see me and wrote me down as a second visitor for the day, which obviously broke another record. The entrance was free and the collection was good. The best thing about it is that it is quite small. Again, I fell for this "National" trick. There were something like fifteen to twenty bonsais and few pinjings. The difference, as I learned is that one is Japanese and the other Chinese. All items were properly named, and the leaflet contained short but informative descriptions, so I learned a thing or two about bonsais (probably because I knew nothing previously). I thanked the man, went out, and spent next two hours lying on the grass on a shore of lake Burley Griffin, enjoying the sun, the warmth, the view (of the National Library, Parliament House and High Court), and most of all, my much delayed lunch.

Australian National Bonsai and Pinjing collection

Little big adventure. Day 11 aka "C2"

Second day in Canberra. My targets today are National Botanic Gardens and Australian War Memorial. Gardens are huge (at least they seem to be on the map) and quite some distance from the city, so walking is not the best option. I would be so exhausted by the time I get there it will take a beer or two to recover. 

So I decided I will rent a bike and ride there. In my hotel earlier I found a flier of Bike Hire company named Mr. Spokes and located not far from the city. I took a bus from the hotel to the city as usual and had a nice morning walk to the bike hire point, eating my breakfast on the way. 

On my way to rent-a-bike point I passed this fountain in Canberra Centre Mall...

... and this strange apartment building, with rusted metal "flowing" from the roof.

To rent a bike costs 35 dollars for the whole day. A bit pricey, but there are little alternatives (I have not seen any). A guy who gave me the bike seemed to be in hurry. "Here's your bike, now here's you helmet, off you go!" "Wait, how do shift gears?" "Ah, right, you turn this thing here to gear up and back to gear down, and you'll be fine!" "Hey, wait, are there any rules that I need to know?" "What, rules? What rules? Ah, rules! Yeah, just keep on the left and you'll be fine!" "Wait, and where's my lock?" "Ah, the lock! Here's your lock, combination is 1188 and you'll be fine" And so, before I could cry "wait" he disappeared. Anyway, I kept on the left, obeyed traffic signals and safely arrived at National Botanic Gardens.

It is worth to mention that is anything is labeled "National" in Canberra it does not necessarily mean that it is the best, biggest, or otherwise superior to any other similar thing in the whole Australia. It is labeled "National" simply because it happened to reside in the nation's capital. 

That said, National Botanic Gardens in Canberra turned out to be really big not only on the map. They are much less civilized and much more bush-like than Sydney's. Entrance is free, so is the self-guide leaflet. Main path loop is conveniently marked on the map and is said to take 40 mins to 1 hour, and I happily follow it, though, as I found out later, in the wrong direction.
First I went into a "Rain Forest" section which features relatively cool climate with a lot of shade, and boasted to be looking exactly as rainforests looked like thousands years ago. Well, I find it very hard to believe, but as I said, entrance is free so I can not ask for my money back. The rest of the gardens were more typical eucalyptus bush-land - sunny, hot and dry. I longed for an ice cream, but the only people I saw were gardeners, so they probably removed ice-cream kiosks due to lack of customers.

Rock garden

Some flowers

Eucalyptus lawn

After about an hour, the main path is over and, with some relief, I say good buy to National Botanic Gardens. Surprised to see it still there, I unlock my bike and ride down to the main bike path. According to a guide-board, there are three main bike routes around Burley Griffin lake, and I decide to take the longest one, which is said to take one hour. Being experienced biker (I try to ride a bike at least once a year), I think it would take me much less than an hour. I could not be much more mistaken. It took me about one hour and 15 minutes, the path going through hilly terrain (at one point I was so exhausted, I had to walk my bike uphill, and when other bikers swept past I pretended I was doing up my shoelaces.
Anyway, the views were awesome, and eventually I was on Anzac Parade, which is a really wide and long boulevard which ends with Australian War Memorial.

View of Anzac parade and AWM from the other side of lake Burley Griffin.

Memorial itself is absolutely amazing. The free guided tour started soon after my arrival, and the guide was really good. Apart from the memorial, there is also a war museum, featuring history articles and items from WWI, WWII and others (Vietnam, Korea, etc). It all ended with a short film about bomber named "G for George" made by Peter Jackson (yes, of the Lord of the Rings fame), who is one of the sponsors for AWM.
If it was not the time to return the bike, I would happily browse the museum for some time more.
I returned the bike, forgot to return the helmet, was reminded of that, returned the helmet and went straight to the King O'Malley pub for a refreshment drink.

Little big adventure. Day 10 aka "C1".

Went to National Library at around 9am.

Australian National Library

Surprised at how many people there were. Turns out the exhibition I want to see - "Handwritten" is only opened at 10am. Went to cafe to get a sandwich for breakfast. 10am now. Going to reception. Even though admission is free, you need to get a ticket. Have you booked your ticket online? No? Sorry, there is no more places for 10am, can book you for later if you want?
I agree to come at 1pm and go to see Questacon - Science and Technology center. According to Tripadvisor, it should be fun, especially for children. It was indeed fun, would have been even more so if I was a child. Not so much science and technology, but interesting exhibits. Would have been really educational, if only parents stopped to discuss with their children what it was all about. There are 7 rooms/areas. Last 2 are really only suitable for children. Spent around 2.5 hours there, having fun with the exhibits.

Questacon's main ramp.

A robot in the lobby, it can make poses and cite film quotes. Wait, is that all?

By 1pm I rushed back into the library, which is next door (but some 500meters away). My target is "Handwritten" exhibition, which features old and modern manuscripts. Again, thee are lots of people, mostly pensioners, but this time I got through, thanks to a nice woman at the ticket desk, who asked where I'm from? Russia? Saint-Petersburg? Been there! Not enough sunny days though. Yeah, for me too. Exhibition is dark and quiet. In first room there are books lying in glass cases, ranging from Venerable Bede' work, to original of Dante's Divine Comedy, to various Bibles and prayer books. Next section is letters and notes written by various famous people in chronological order, starting from Erasmus, Copernicus, Galileo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Goethe, Bonaparte, Newton and up to modern Einstein,  Marks, Dickens, Darwin and many others. People were lining up in queues to read all the labels and take a close look at papers dating back more than four centuries ago. And they really worth looking at.
Separate musical section featured original music sheets by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms and many others. Directional speakers produced sounds of the corresponding music when you stand in front of the sheet. Marvelous.
Spent about 2 hours there and did not even noticed. Harried out the library but then remembered that they should have originals of the James Cook journal for this "finding Australia" trip. Bill Bryson in his "In a sunburned country" notes missed this journal as it was not on display. I felt lucky so I got back to reception and asked, and yes they have it on display now. Journal is nothing much, again, just a thick manuscript in glass case, opened at the page of 19th April 177, where he founds Australia and names the piece of shore after Ltnt Hicks who was first to see it.Above the journal there was a painting depicting a confused affair of Cook's death by hands of aboriginals who earlier praised him. Beside the journal there is a multimedia display allowing you to see scanned pages of the journal, with transcript, a timeline (showing which point in time you are at), and a map (showing where in the world you are during this voyage). Very high-tech. Apart from the journal (which is part of the permanent Treasures exhibition), there are few things to see, mainly related to earlier Australian history and aboriginal past.
Going to High Court of Australia building now, along the lake Burley Griffin, which is nice but not too nice. Saw a couple of black swans on the way, which is depicted in ACT's coat of arms. High Court is interesting building, best described as "pragmatic". Steel and concrete. Huge lobby. Building is open to public, including three court rooms. They would even allow you to sit at the hearings, but alas, no hearings until 31 Jan so I just wandered around empty courtrooms, taking a few sordid photos, marveled at the pictures on the lobby walls and went outside to find out where the hell the old parliament house is in this park.

Black swans. Found originally only in Australia.

View of the flag on top of the Parliament.

High Court building.

I found it by the smell. There was a "sacred" fire in front and SOVEREIGNTY in big white letters. Aborigines wanted some sovereignty, obviously, but I did not clearly understood from who (do they want us all to get off their land, leaving all the cities and infrastructure behind? or demolished to original state? Or do they simply want a piece of land to live and not be bothered by Australian government? Well they can choose any piece of the Australian desert - there is no one to bother them there. Of course if they want a piece of land in the center of the Sydney with a view on the harbour and Opera House, we are in trouble). Anyway I was too afraid to come and ask, so I decided to leave them alone.

Old Parliament House building. Is it me or is it too grand for a provisional building?

Sacred bonfire. I was supposed to make a donation for making a photo, but I didn't so now I'm doomed.

The museum inside, which is Museum of Australian Democracy (how many other countries have a museum of democracy? We should have one in Russia - explaining how it was born crippled, suffered greatly, and died in pain), was simply beautiful. Featuring red Senate chamber and green House of Representatives, where actual debates took place until late 80s, party rooms, and Prime Minister's office, this place just breathes with politics. I was lucky to get a guided tour by a guy who used to work there. There are also lots of exhibitions, i.e. history of democracy (featuring Washington's lamp and inkwell he used to write constitution - on 12-month loan from US, but forgotten for more than 4 years now) and many others, which I unfortunately was not unable to see as this was time to close the museum (5pm). Everything seems to close at 5pm in Canberra, as the streets were flooded with workers hurrying home, and by flooded I mean that I finally saw more than 5 people at once on the street.

The Senate

Prime Minister's office. Yep, that's first floor and just one meter from the window, unguarded.

I went downtown, found a nice Irish pub "King O'Malley" and had a dinner and a couple of local ales. Strangely enough, the place was quite busy, probably because it the the only Irish pub in the city, or, more probably the only pub in the city, opened after 5pm.
Lovely day.

Little big adventure. Day -1.

Taxi to Pulkovo was okay, though I had to explain the driver how to use FTPOS device. Flight to Moscow, also nothing worth noting.
Domodedovo was like a huge beehive. Found a quiet corner and slept for couple of hours. S7 self-checkin kiosk refused to check me in, and advised that I should check-in at the desk. The queue to the check-in desks was a few good hours wait, or so it seemed (thanks to soon-to-depart flights to Erevan and Tbilisi). Playing dumb, I complained to S7 personnel about the problem with self-checkin, and was quietly ushered to the baggage drop-off desk. After a few minutes wait I was successfully checked-in through to Sydney, so good thing was that not only I don't need to get my luggage at Frankfurt, but that I also don't need to check-in and I have my boarding pass with me. The bad thing (there could not be only good things, could it?) was that she forgot to ask me where I want to seat, so now I am a bit scary that my seat is number 68H (how many rows are in that plain?!).
Anyway, time to board. While the bus is taking me to the plane, I (and other passengers) see a luggage train ahead, and its loosing the bags on every bump! Passengers, assuming this is their luggage, start to shout at the driver to "do something". The driver says something into his radio and the luggage train stops and its driver starts to slowly walk back and gather fallen bags. The interesting thing was that, while bags were falling off the train, there were lots of airport workers watching this, even walking by the fallen bags, but nobody cared enough to do anything about it. They just ignored the situation. What a nice people.
Sitting in the last row on the place to Frankfurt, near the toilet. Not that I need it, but still. The food was awful, could not sleep thanks to the child nearby, and people rushing to the loo also did not help. Moreover, the toilets become "broken" near the end of the flight, and the stewards locked them both, causing a constant confusion for the passengers, who thought that "occupied" sign literally means occupied and just stood and wait for them to become "unoccupied". Of course, leaning on my chair. But who cares?
Arrived to Frankfurt Airport. It’s huge. Told a girl at border control that I just want to go outside for few hours. She was not surprised, so I guess many people do that. As long as you have a visa, she said, there should be no problem. Since I had the visa, I had no problem, apart from where to find that fecking train to the city. I want to go the Naturmuseum, at least that’s the plan. I know where it is and I know which trains to take. Okay, I found the platform, but the fecking ticket machine won’t sell me the tickets. My card is non-EC, you see. Of course, Gold Mastercards issued in Russia are all fraud, everyone knows that. So I went upstairs again to the DB (Deutche Bahn) help office and told them I want to go to Bockenheimer Warte station, wherever it is, and the see the damn dinosaurs in Naturmuseum. No problems, they say, here is the timetable, go to the ticker office, buy your tickets and off you go. I did that, card was okay this time, got a ticket, went back to the station, took the train, changed the train at Hauptbahnhoff, and few minutes later arrived to the station beside museum.
Heck, front door is closed, so they must have some side or back door to lead visitors to the famous dinosaur exhibition. Two of the specimen are standing in front of the building, suggesting a great experience inside. Alas, no side entrance. Not even the back door. And not a single person around to ask. What the … ? Okay, I have to face it, the museum is closed. No dinosaurs today, sorry. Maybe on the way back from Sydney, when I have similar stop in Frankfurt, even though it’s a bit earlier in the morning. Frustrating. Its getting cold I am not dressed to walk in 5degrees, so I retreat back to Hauptbahnhoff to get some warmth and food, simply to find out that even McDonalds is closed to the day. So I retreat further, to the airport, and finally finding my peace in my Terminal, in one of the restraints, eating pasta and drinking dark Weise-beer.
A long day! And it not over yet, need to board my flight to Sydney safely and think about what should I do on a 22 hour flight (should have though of that earlier, haven't I?) A few hours (three!) from Moscow to Frankfurt were quite hard to survive, so let's see how it goes with flight to Singapore.
Will keep you posted.

Little big adventure. Day -2.

I write this as I am waiting for the taxi, which will take me to the Pulkovo Airport, from where a plane will take me to Moscow, from where, after 4 hour wait, another plane will take me to Frankfurt Airport, from where, after 9 hour wait, another plane will take me to Singapore, from where, after two hour wait, the same plane will take me to Sydney Airport, from where, hopefully with no wait, but after almost 48 hours from the start, a train will take me to Sydney Harbour.
In short, this is going to be a very long night! And I am going to love planes... a lot!