I took advantage of a rainy Saturday morning and I went on one last long run. I woke up at 6 am and ran along the bike path to and around Lake Ginninderra, which was about 18 km total. It felt so great to get in a long run since it is difficult to in the city and I do not know if I will be able to in Melbourne. For our last day in Canberra, we had a cultural tour planned where we were going to visit all of the famous buildings and landmarks in Canberra. Because it was a very rainy and foggy day, we were not able to fully appreciate the beauty of Canberra. Our first stop was at a viewpoint from Mt. Ainslie, which is supposedly breathtaking. However, we were unable to see anything through the fog and so we took a quick group picture and ran back to the bus the second it started raining harder.
The second stop was the Australian War Memorial. It is apparently one of the best war museums in the world and I am not surprised to hear that. Upon entering, there is a large courtyard with a fountain made of black volcanic rock leading up to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where a soldier is buried, but no one knows his name and he is there to represent all of the lives of soldiers lost from past wars. The exhibit themselves were also very interesting and each one focused on Australian involvement in different wars, including world wars. There was a lot of war memorabilia from both world wars including fighter planes, tanks, cannons, propaganda, uniforms, medals, etc. all from different countries.
The third stop was the Parliament House, which pretty much houses all Australian government branches, most notably the prime minister, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. From walking around, you could see a lot of Washington, DC influence on the architecture of the buildings and the way that the capital is set up. The original architect that had the opportunity to design Canberra was an American named Griffin. In his original plans he did not want to place the Parliament House on top of a hill because he did not want it to represent that the government was above the people. However, the capital did not begin construction until Griffin past away and the only available place to put the capital was on top of the hill. So instead, they chose to compromise and what they did was build the Parliament House so that it was directly aligned with the War Memorial. This way, if you were to open all of the doors on the first floor in the Parliament House starting at the front door all the way to the last door (which leads to the office of the Prime Minister), you would be able to see directly across the park (which houses several different monuments in remembrance of different parts of Australian history) straight to the War Memorial as a reminder to the government all the lives of Australians lost and that they are working for the people of Australia. I thought this was a very intriguing idea because something that I have picked up on is that Australians really love their symbolism. For example, the color scheme of the House of Representatives is a light green. They wanted to maintain the tradition of the House of Lords from England, but at the same time maintain their independence as a commonwealth, so they chose the green from eucalyptus and gum trees, which is a shade lighter than the House of Lords. They also made the Senate be red because of the flower of the gum tree. The set-up of both the Representatives and the Senate were also interesting. Both rooms, which are housed in the Parliament House, had the ground floor with seating and table for members of parliament. Then there was seating for the public to watch the processions, as well as a media area, and an area for students to come watch as well. Also, only members of parliament are allowed to stand on the floor, so when Obama came to speak a bit ago, he had to stand on a block as to not touch the floor.
After the tour of the Parliament House, we headed to the National Australian Museum. On the way we drove through Embassy Drive, which resembled Greek Row, but with massive embassies from around the world. It kind of resembled Greek Row, but the houses were larger, the architecture represented each country’s culture, and were also heavily guarded. Notably, the United States had the largest house on the most amount of property on the very top of the hill. At the National Australian Museum, we walked through several exhibits that explored the history of Australia, starting with the indigenous people. It was very interesting, but it had been a long day for all of us and we were getting tired. After the museum, we headed to the Australian Mint and saw where the Australian currency was minted. This did not last too long however because we were exhausted at that point. We had a great time on this tour and that is all due to our guide, John, who was enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. Thanks John!
Upon arriving back to the AIS, it was time to finish up laundry, pack, and enjoy our last dinner in the dining hall. Overall, Canberra was a great experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to not only be able to see all of the different parts of Australia’s Olympic Training Center, but take part in it by meeting staff members and athletes, and residing there.
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