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