Our day started with a wander through the Bishop's Garden at the nearby National Cathedral while we waited for opening. A tour through this magnificent cathedral, built just over 100 years ago in the Gothic tradition was well worthwhile.
A slightly less heated ride on the double-decker to Lincoln Memorial, where Laura impersonated Forrest, whilst Nan and Pop played Jenny (we are not into running up and down steps!)
A long walk (it was now early afternoon and very hot, so our red, white and blue rocket ice blocks melted faster than we could lick them) down The Mall, past the memorials for Vietnam and also WWII allowed us to reflect on the enormous tragedy of these two events in terms of lives lost. This was to be nothing compared to the horrors of reflecting on the experiences for Daniel and others who experienced the Holocaust. Daniel's Story is well set up for children and is a good preliminary experience before the main museum. Laura certainly learnt more history here than a year of schooling could ever achieve, and hopefully some values relating to tolerance that will last a lifetime.
The Metro in the evening rush-hour is no different to any other rail system in peak hour - except that with two escalators not working (this seems to be common around here), after another day of 'walking miles', this was somewhat of a challenge for yours truly. To give the locals due credit - not one person bumped into me as I made my somewhat slow way up or down, which unfortunately I cannot say would be the case in Brisbane.
In general I have found people to be highly considerate of others. This is of course more noticeable in a potential tipping situation, where they will generally go out of their way to offer service. I am not sure that we have fully mastered the art of who to tip and who not to.... Nor have we fully mastered the art of establishing that the advertised price is the actual price, or when tax must be added.
Nb: Sorry about the blurry picture - I can get them in, but so far haven't mastered the art of getting them out. Watch this space.....!
No comments:
Post a Comment