We have been enjoying a holiday weekend here in Australia due to ANZAC Day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), which exists to celebrate and remember those who have served in the armed forces, similar to Memorial Day in America. This was a particularly noteworthy ANZAC Day, as it marked the 100th anniversary of the landing of ANZAC troops on Gallipoli, which you can read more about if you click the link above. Here in Melbourne, there was a dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance as well as a parade to commemorate the holiday. Unfortunately, today was chilly and rainy and didn't make for a great day to be outdoors, so Peter and I enjoyed a lazy day in. Luckily, we had a few opportunities throughout the week to check out the various celebrations.
In true Melbourne fashion, there have been ANZAC-themed images projected onto buildings at night this week. This city does more image-projecting onto its buildings than any other city in the world. I am willing to bet my life on it.
I saw this projection on Southbank one night this week while walking home from dinner.
Peter had come across an Instagram photo of some projections on the National Gallery of Victoria earlier in the week so we decided to see if it was still lit up last night. Sadly the building was dark, so I took a picture of the fountain instead.
Earlier on Friday we went to check out the poppies on the steps of Federation Square.
Apparently the goal was to crochet 5,000 poppies for the Centenary this year, but when word got out, poppies came pouring in from all over Australia and abroad. The poppy count is currently over 250,000. It was really a cool sight!
In the spirit of the holiday, we headed to the war exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria.
These vintage recruiting posters were my favorite!
One room had large peg boards lining the walls and a basket of poppies on the floor for those who wanted to add to the board in remembrance.
We then moved on to another more modern exhibit that featured strobe lights and kaleidoscope-inspired pieces. I didn't totally "get" it, but in true awkward form I did walk into the below piece of art (ball of yarn?) on accident. I thought it was supposed to be an optical illusion so I decided to walk into it and then realized it was in fact made up of tiny red strings and was most definitely 3-D. I probably looked like an idiot. Oh well.
After the museum we took a walk around the east end of the CBD, which is home to my absolute favorite macaroon shop in Melbourne.
Pretty much the cutest place ever.
As I mentioned, we have had a lazy Saturday primarily spent watching hockey, the Bruce Jenner interview (truly fascinating), and now a footy game. Peter has decided to cheer for Essendon, a suburb north of the city. He has wasted no time in becoming a full-fledged fan. Just what we need...another sport to follow :). Now that we know a bit more about the Australian Football League, it will be fun to attend a game or two this season.
