The War Memorial

Quite the profound experience for both of us. The war memorial in Canberra may be one of the best and most comprehensive exhibitions I have ever been to. Tallulah was captivated and was deeply moved on many levels. The scale was massive, the toll tangible. I left my SLR camera in Melbourne so all these pix were taken on my el-cheapo Samsung galaxy mobile phone mostly using Polaroid filtres.

A beautiful day, the parka is new so even though it was warm she had to be a character from the Mighty Boosh.

While not the biggest building it is very imposing and beautifully designed. People of all ages were there.

A small section of the thousands of names of lives lost in battle.

Everything is so big here.

Wall detail.

On the very far horizon you can see the flag waving atop parliament house.

These mosaics were mind boggling. Stunning works of art. Almost religious in their depiction of the type of hero's our country produced.

Such a serious and solemn room, but how much does this chap look like Gene Kelly?

Training cockpit.

There were so many aircraft.

The service at the end of the day was beautiful. Tallulah was enthralled. Some men my age were told off by a senior gentleman for not removing their hats during the last post. Ignorance in the modern age and a real lack of awareness of how much our grandparents and great grandparents sacrificed and went through to protect and improve our lives. I am no advocate of war, but I completely support the defenders of our lives and home and country. I keep my grandfathers uniform at the back of my wardrobe. A reminder every day.

Everything about this place was imposing, including the piper. You can just make him out in the previous photo.

A pensive mood prevailed as we filed out and they closed the iron gates behind us. We took our final shots and parted, feeling  very lucky and very sad. A strong sense of being terribly spoiled and also a bit of fear for what can happen any time. How would we cope if there was a world war now? Food for thought indeed.