We really liked Canberra, Australia’s capital city. The population is about 500,000. As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is home to many important institutions of the federal government, national monuments and museums. This includes Parliament House, the official residence of the monarch’s representative (Australia is part of the British Commonwealth) the Governor-General, the High Court and numerous government departments and agencies. It is also the location of many social and cultural institutions of national significance such as the Australian War Memorial, the Australian National University, the Royal Australian Mint, the National Gallery, the National Museum and the National Library. It also hosts the majority of foreign embassies in Australia as well as regional headquarters of many international organizations, not-for-profit groups, lobbying groups and professional associations. So, it is very much like Washington, D.C. only a lot smaller. The entire population of Australia is only 25 million as compared to our 327 million even though the countries are roughly equal in size.
Our first stop today was to visit the Australian War Memorial. In addition to the Memorial itself, it has an extensive national military museum that presents exhibits and displays of all the wars and conflicts Aussie have undergone.
War Memorial 
Entrance to the Museum and Memorial
We actually took a guided tour, which was delivered by a very knowledgeable fellow, and walked through the first and second World Wars. I learned a lot, but it was way too much information to soak up in 90 minutes. The museum is huge and the memorabilia is displayed everywhere; again, too much to take in all at once. Our guide wanted to connect with us Americans and so he ensured we knew what good allies the Aussies are. And not surprisingly, Trump came up. I am just amazed by how much American political news is broadcast here.
Fast tank 
Enigma machine for code breaking 
Display after WWI exhibit 
Diorama of battle 
These medals are symbolic of the Knights of Malta 
There was a nice display on women in war
On the grounds of the museum is an interesting sculpture garden focusing on key military themes.
WWI sculpture 
Simpson and his donkey 
Memorial to war animals
The Memorial Hall is a very solemn area and within it under the huge dome is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Inside the Hall is inscribed the names of the 102,185 Australian servicemen and women killed in conflict or on peacekeeping operations. Outside the Hall of Memory is a commemorative courtyard naming all of the wars and conflicts in which Aussie have fought.
Commemorative courtyard 
Commemorative courtyard 
Stained glass inside the Hall of Memory 
Dome in the Hall of Memory 
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
I think, though, the most poignant display to me was in a long hallway in the museum that had 41 piles of 3 folded white towels with red poppies on the top, one for each Aussie killed in Afghanistan. It brought tears to my eyes because the only reason Australians fought in Afghanistan was to support their American allies. The photo below shows a reflection of each pile, which I think even adds more poignancy.
The War Memorial was quite overwhelming so we changed our pace and headed to the Australian Botanic Gardens. It was time for lunch so we had a nice meal at the Pollen Cafe at the gardens.
Sign on the cafe table 
This guy looked on as we ate
We strolled through part of the main garden loop which took us through the rainforest. I liked being in the bush again. The weather was fickle all day so every couple of hours it rained, especially later in the day when a couple of storms blew through, but while we were at the garden it was luckily not raining until the very end.
Nice little waterfall 
The misting machine was a work in the rainforest 
Fiddle heads on a fern tree 
Cassowary (but it’s fake)
After the gardens it was off to Parliament House. As you look down ANZAC Parade to Capital Hill, you see first the Old Parliament House and then new Parliament House, completed in 1988. This is similar to our U.S. Capital because it is the seat of government. In this building are the chambers of the House of Representatives (150 representatives and Senate (76 Senators) and the offices of the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader; and of course offices for all the representatives and senators. It is a magnificent building. And what blew me away was that after passing through a rather cursory screening and metal detector, we could go anywhere in the building with few exceptions. Everything in the building is unique and of incredibly high quality. We watched a movie about the building of the structure and all the workmanship that it entailed. It was really awesome. We wandered around a long time enjoying seeing the what we learned about from the movie.
Parliament 
Lego model of the Parliament 
It took 5 years to weave the tapestry on this wall 
Senate chambers 
House of Representatives chamber
Please take note of this sign outside the Senate chamber.
Golden wattle (tree), kangaroo and emu
After visiting the new Parliament House we drove around the Old Parliament House.
To the left of this building there was a lovely little rose garden, but as you can see from the sky in this photo, we didn’t have much time to wander before the rain came.
One of the very noticeable sights in Canberra is at the top of Black Hill. It is the Telstra Tower. Telstra is the largest telecommunications company in Australia. The tower offers observation decks and once had a revolving restaurant, which has since closed. The tower is an imposing sight from anywhere in Canberra. We did not go into the tower, but I got a picture from online of what the view looks like. It shows how large Burley Griffin Lake is.
After our drive back down Black Mountain we stopped by the National Museum of Australia, but it was closing time so we were unable to go in. The museum preserves and interprets Australia’s social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. I would put this museum on my list of things to do if coming back to Canberra. It looked very interesting and the architecture of the building was cool and playful. The museum preserves and interprets Australia’s social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation.
National Museum of Australia 
Interesting thing outside (it’s where you can sit to wait for a taxi)
We ended our day by finding a very nice Thai restaurant in a shopping center near our motel. We were surprised to see that of the approximate 25 restaurants in the shopping center, nearly all were Asian food. Clearly there is a very large Asian population in Canberra. I think I read that 28% of the population speaks a second language with many of those people speaking Mandarin and other Asian languages. At any rate, we had a wonderful meal in a very lovely setting.
It was a very full day! We all liked Canberra very much. In the morning it’s on to Melbourne.