The next morning, we purchased another all-day pass and boarded the light rail across the street from our hotel. Our first stop was the Parliament House on Capital Hill. You can sign up for free guided tours online. We hadn't done that but were fortunate to join a tour when there were no-shows. We learned a little about how the Australian government works and saw both the House and Senate chambers. My favorite part of the tour was the Lego Parliament House, complete with tourists tumbling down the grassy hills. The Lego building took 740 hours to build.
Our next stop was the Old Parliament House and the Senate Gardens then the High Court of Australia before stopping into the National Gallery. It's free to visit. Highlights include:
Dali's Lobster Telephone
Hockney's Diver
several Lichtensteins
Monet's Water Lilies
Rodin's Burghers of Calais (in the sculpture garden)
Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly paintings
Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles
Warhol's Elvis & Campbell Soups
After lunch, we visited the Australian War Memorial. There is a museum that highlights Australia's involvement in wars & conflicts. It's an extensive museum and took us 3 hours to tour. We registered online to see the Last Post, a touching tribute to a fallen hero. It starts at 4:45pm and is free to attend but you must have a ticket.
We ended the day with a hike up Mt. Ainslee.
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