Today, Saturday, we went to a vineyard for brunch just outside Canberra. Enjoyable, though brunch is not my favourite meal as I can find it a bit samey, but when in Australia. We walked around a bit, looking at sheds and raised containers, all very nice and vineyardy. On the return, I got dropped off at one of the main galleries, where I particularly liked an outdoor sculpture, an underground stupa in water. It was a bit like those kurgans in Gyoeongju, only with an indigo stupa inside.
After the gallery I had a coffee in wind so strong that my cup nearly blew away, then I walked along the river (later learning it was a lake) towards where the metro line starts. There was almost no one there, and it did feel like the Islamabad of my childhood. Even more so as I approached the metro bit as all the shops and restaurants were shut though of course it is the weekend and people take leisure fairly seriously here. Anyway, I got to the metro and couldn’t figure out how to buy a ticket, and there was no one to ask. So finally I called an uber, an expensive journey but a comfortable one chatting to a fellow who claimed to be a retired social policy analyst for the government.
Canberra is quiet, but pretty and pleasant. I don’t like everything being shut on weekends though.