I only have two goals in Australia: write and walk. These blog postings help meet the "write" mandate.
Since we're right in the heart of downtown (CBD), I'm also walking my legs off! No point in trying to drive (we have a car; it stays in the garage) since parking is a nightmare and everything I need I can get to within 20-30 minutes of walking.
So, walk I shall! I've been putting in 1-3 hours of walking each day, mostly running errands and figuring out where everything is. Yesterday (Monday) I gave myself a treat after running errands (phone, eyeglasses, dentist, bank) and found the local library and the botanical gardens.
The local library is a very busy place full of many city services but not so many .... books. If I still owned all the books I've bought in the last 20 years, I could rival their fiction section. It's a disappointment. I want to be swamped with books when I go into a library. I just love being surrounded -- physically -- by books.
There is also a "state" library just around the corner and I hope to visit them today.
Once I got over the library let-down, I headed a couple blocks over to the botanical gardens.
note: Brisbane's CBD is really not very large. I think it's roughly the same size as DC's if you measure from Constitution Ave. north to M St and then from, say, 7th to 20th. Max. Easily traversable.
The gardens are next to the parliament building (Brisbane is the capitol of Queensland) and to the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) (geek-central I presume). Sits on the end of one of the pennisulas of land formed by the loopy Brisbane River.
I loved it. It's not necessarily plant-intensive like some but there are long lovely strolling paths and plenty of open spaces full of sunning people and just danged pleasant. I'm still a little freaked out that I live somewhere that palm trees and bamboo are native but I'll probably get over that.
Next time, I may bring a blanket.
Since we're right in the heart of downtown (CBD), I'm also walking my legs off! No point in trying to drive (we have a car; it stays in the garage) since parking is a nightmare and everything I need I can get to within 20-30 minutes of walking.
So, walk I shall! I've been putting in 1-3 hours of walking each day, mostly running errands and figuring out where everything is. Yesterday (Monday) I gave myself a treat after running errands (phone, eyeglasses, dentist, bank) and found the local library and the botanical gardens.
The local library is a very busy place full of many city services but not so many .... books. If I still owned all the books I've bought in the last 20 years, I could rival their fiction section. It's a disappointment. I want to be swamped with books when I go into a library. I just love being surrounded -- physically -- by books.
There is also a "state" library just around the corner and I hope to visit them today.
Once I got over the library let-down, I headed a couple blocks over to the botanical gardens.
note: Brisbane's CBD is really not very large. I think it's roughly the same size as DC's if you measure from Constitution Ave. north to M St and then from, say, 7th to 20th. Max. Easily traversable.
The gardens are next to the parliament building (Brisbane is the capitol of Queensland) and to the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) (geek-central I presume). Sits on the end of one of the pennisulas of land formed by the loopy Brisbane River.
I loved it. It's not necessarily plant-intensive like some but there are long lovely strolling paths and plenty of open spaces full of sunning people and just danged pleasant. I'm still a little freaked out that I live somewhere that palm trees and bamboo are native but I'll probably get over that.
Next time, I may bring a blanket.
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