October 31, 2004

Going to the Australian War Memorial and Bus To Sydney

This morning I was awake at 8h10. I planned to get up, do everything and check out for 10h (on time) and take the 10h20 bus into town. I went to shower and then packed a few things. After it was time for breakfast. At 9h, I decided to read the previous day's newspaper with breakfast and saw a little article saying "Don't forget to change the time, one hour later..." I thought... crap! It's already 10h! I lost one hour of precious Canberra time! I went to the reception to tell her I would be late checking out because of the change of time. She said it was fine and she was feeling the change of time too (did not have enough sleep I'm guessing!) I went to make lunch and then gave the left over food for other people at the hostel. Back in my room, I got a phonecall from Andy on my mobile. I finished packing and then at around 10h40 (h40 really!) I was ready to check out. I waited for the 11h20 bus to town. I bought another day ticket at 3,50$. At the Jolimont Centre, I wanted to put my bag in the lockers. It was 10$ for a day. I did not have enough change though and would have to give me 20$ in change! So I went to a newsagent and bought a pack of gum with my 20$ and that gave me enough coins and some bills back. I went back to the lockers and figured out how to store my backpack. 10$ is a lot, but it's saving me time (don't have to go back to hostel) and energy. I walked along City Walk to Constitution Avenue. I stopped at the St John the Baptist Church. It was Halloween, also a religious celebration day, so the church was very busy! The church was little and cute. It is one of the oldest buildings in Canberra, the oldest I've seen, built in 1844. There was also a cemetary nead the church, where I saw a lot of old thombstones, many from the 1800's. Then I went on walking until Anzac Parade. It is a long street with memorials all along the way leading up to the Australian War Monument. When I got to the Australian War Monument (A.W.M.), I had lunch outside at a picnic table because I was starving! Then I went inside the A.W.M. It was pretty impressive. The Roll Of Honour was my favorite. It is bronze pannels bearing the names of 102 600 Australian soldiers who died at war. It was touching... To see all the names. So many. After that I went to see the Hall of Memory which was also impressive because it was made all out of tiles! I saw the people from Quebec again! Funny coincidence I thought... But afterall, Canberra is not so big so I was not surprise to see them. After, I went to the museum part. They had gallery about Gallipoli war, 1st and 2nd World Wars. I liked seeing all the clothing, uniforms and objects from the war times. I did not like seeing an old whip from WW2 used by Germans on Jews. It made me so angry! I thought about the people who had suffered because of that object. After I was tired but I went on to the Vietnam war museum section. I was in the A.W.M. for a long time, from 13h30 to 16h! I went out and saw 2 of the Quebec people sitting outside. They were waiting for the 3 others in their party. I said goodbye, this time for real I joked.