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Monday, May 9, 2011

Canberra- Parliament, Embassy, & War Memorial

We went to the top of Mt. Ainslie which was really cool, first because we saw so many kangaroos on the way there, and second because we could see the whole city of Canberra. We learned that the city was laid out in a triangle pattern and the lake was man made. We also learned that the city was put there just for the purpose of being the capital city. After we left there we went on a little bit of a tour because we were early, so we went past like the art museum and the old parliament house. Then we went to the Parliament house which was soooo BIG. They said it cost like $1.2 billion dollars. We walked in and the floor was like all marble and they had these huge marble stair cases. Then we went into this HUGE room that had this huge tapestry hanging. We also went to the House of Representatives and Senate. They had clocks hanging everywhere and our guide told us that when they call for a vote in the House of Representatives the clock flashes green, or in the Senate it flashes red, then the members of their house have 4 minutes to get to the rooms then the doors are locked until the voting is over. I thought that was really interesting. After we went to the Senate our tour guide left us and we were allowed to go onto the roof. There’s a road that goes down the city and its called ANZAC parade, it leads to the war memorial but on the other side is the Parliament, our guide told us that if all the front doors of Parliament are open, you’re supposed to be able to see inside the memorial. She said they did this so the people in the government can remember all the soldiers who fought and are fighting for the country. From the roof, we had a perfect view of the road and the memorial. I thought that Parliament was going to be boring but it was actually really interesting. They had aboriginal art hanging everywhere and everything symbolized something. For example, there have a kangaroo and and emu on there crest; these animals can’t walk backwards so they symbolize a country that is always moving forward. Also, all the marble and stone used to make Parliament was from different countries that are allies to Australia, always reminding people to be thankful for their allies. I thought it was interesting too that they had aboriginal art everywhere because it showed a certain level of respect, I’ve never been to the White House but I don’t think that have Native American art hanging everywhere. Also, the rooms for the House of Representatives is green and the Senate room is red; in Australia exit signs are required to be green- however, in the Senate they are red because it had to match the room- our guide said it’s he only exception in the country. After we left Parliament we went to the US Embassy.


The Embassy was also really interesting. The only thing we were allowed to bring in was our passports so I have no pictures from there. But we went in and we all went down to this room and met three ambassadors. Although I forget their names, one of the men worked in the political aspect, the other man worked for public affairs. The woman who was down there worked in Special Forces as head of security. They told us how they got their jobs and all about the International test. From the way they described it, not a lot of people pass. First there is a written part and if people pass that they are invited to take part in the oral part. After that they have to pass the security check and then they are put on a list and just wait to be called. The woman got her job a little bit differently because she was part of CIA. She had been in all different parts of the world before she was sent to Australia. We were able to ask questions and Charlie asked about the Wiki leaks, so we talked about that for a little while. When the woman was introducing herself she talked about a case of a US ship that sunk and how someone had been messing with it; so later I asked her what was the most interesting case she’s worked on. She told me that depressing was probably a better word. She said she’s worked on murder cases and pedophile cases. She also said when she was in a country in the Middle East, the leader was assassinated by his own body guard and the people that the US had something to do with it. She said there was one road to and from the airport, and they had to be evacuated at night and left by boat. I thought that was crazyyyy!! After that we went on a little tour outside and saw the huge house on the grounds. I forget who lives there but our guide told us that Jackie Chan lived there for a year and his parents were the live-in house keepers for over 20! He was talking to us about the different trees on the yard too, he said every time a really important person for the US comes (like a president) they plant a tree. Before we were leaving he showed us another tree that he said was really special; it was planted in honor of the people who lost their lives during 9/11. After this we left and went to get lunch, then we got dropped off on ANZAC parade.


We walked up and down that road because on the sides were so many memorials for different wars. There was also memorial for all different parts of the Australian army and there was even a huge one honoring the nurses. At the end there was one honoring the Turkish which was really interesting because the Australians were fighting against them in that war. They decided to put a memorial there because the Turkish were fighting for their independence, which the Australians thought was important, but they had to fight on the side of the British; they were just doing their jobs. Once we got to the end we were at the War Memorial. We went inside and watched a short film, then were able to look at everything. They had different rooms for so many different wars including WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. They had pictures, old journals, letters, poems, and so many other things. They also had really interesting little scenes from different wars set up and huge planes and helicopters. We went to the Wall of Honor, down the stairs from that there was like a wishing well with an eternal flame burning inside. The wall was really interesting, it had the names of all people who had served and died in all different wars. It was also filled with poppy flowers, which were red, representing all the blood that has been shed. When we were walking in Devin and I saw this place called the discovery zone and we were like we want to go in there! So when we got free time we went down there and it was so cool, we were like little kids. First there was a helicopter that you could sit in and we asked this guy to take a picture of us who worked there and he came over with hats for us. Then there was a submarine we could lay in the bed and look through the telescope and dress up like sailors there too. Next there was a thing set up like a trench and of course you could dress up there too. Finally there was this thing you could stick your foot in and it showed you what trench foot looked like- grosssss! After we left the discovery zone we left the memorial and went back to the hostel.


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