So I may have lied about yesterday's post concluding day two of the road trip. There was one more event that took place after we got settled into our Canberra accommodation and set out to get some dinner and drinks at a nearby brewery. We were trying to put the address into the GPS and Katie was trying to navigate an especially confusing intersection when we saw the blue lights of a cop car flash behind us. If you follow me on Snapchat (laurahinderaker) you probably saw this as it was happening but unfortunately I didn't save the photo.
Katie pulled right over and two police officers approached our car. They could obviously tell from Katie's accent that we weren't locals, and she explained that we had just gotten into town and were somewhat lost. The cop clearly didn't believe her though and issued Katie a breath test. Despite the fact that none of us had consumed any alcohol that day, Katie somehow failed the test. There was a moment of panic but thankfully she passed a second one and we were free to go. Of course the cop asked where we were headed and sort of chuckled when she found out we were on our way to the brewery (this would have been a good moment for a white lie but none of us knew the name of any other restaurants in the city to give her). And that was the official end of day two.
We woke up early Monday morning to head to the Belgian Embassy, which happened to be next to the U.S. Embassy. Katie and I wandered over to check it out while Sylvie did her paperwork. The U.S. embassy was the biggest one there, with multiple buildings and security at every entrance.
Shout-out to the homeland!
Patriotic selfie (it was the 4th of July weekend after all). The security guards were amused by our struggle to position the selfie stick at the correct angle. No shame.
I asked the security guards how we could get through the gates and they told me we had to have an appointment. Since we didn't, I decided it would be slightly less illegal for my GoPro to break in than for us to try to jump the fence.
I stuck the selfie stick through the gate and got this unobstructed picture of one of the buildings. And yet another use for a selfie stick: circumventing fences. If you don't have one yet you need to drop everything and go get one now.
The embassy of India, across from the U.S. Embassy. I wish we would have had more time to check them all out as there were some amazing buildings.
We headed back to the Belgian Embassy and met up with Sylvie as she was finishing up. Turns out the office people weren't the easiest to deal with, but she got her passport renewed and we were on our way!
Sylvie in front of the Belgian and European Union flags.
The ambassador's house, or "my tax dollars" as Sylvie called it.
Katie had heard about a large America-inspired eagle monument not far from the embassies so we obviously couldn't leave before checking that out!
A nice note at the base of the statue.
The eagle monument is known locally as "Bugs Bunny". It's a pity you did not have more time in Canberra because you may then have discovered that the city is roughly 50/50 government and private/commercial, that is has more bars, coffee shop and restaurants per square millimetre than any other Australian city and that it has a great number of Australia's most iconic buildings, museums.
ReplyDeleteOnce of our great public assets is the National Arboretum which is unique in not having just a few examples of tree species but actually a forest of each species. The café and restaurant are in a huge building named "The Village Centre" and the whole site is worth a day on its own.
Should you and Peter ever decide to visit Canberra again pleas feel free to contact us, we are a retired couple and would be very happy to show you (and any of your friends and family) around Canberra. You would see things that most visitors to Canberra never see.