Queensland State Library

Brisbane U3A opened its Winter School yesterday at the Queensland State Library at South Bank. It started with a private library tour through this magnificent institution. When U3A opened it's bookings a few weeks ago, it was fully booked within three days, so we were pleased to secure a place in this tour.

We were divided into three groups with a guide each taking us through the three floors of the building.

One of the other groups down on the ground floor

The QL is a reference library only and doesn't lend out books as such, but they do lend out music scores of any kind from early Baroque to modern day pop and experimental music.

The library building at South Bank is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre, between the Museum and the Gallery of Modern Art. It houses not only every book ever published in Queensland but just about every book ever published anywhere.

It also has a vast collection of items people have and are donating to the state from decesed estates. It has a collection of every newspaper ever printed in Queensland right back to the start of newspapers. They can be accessed on film by members of the library.

A wall of photos donated to the library by the public.

 There are numerous areas with free access to computers and the internet. A favourite by students researching topics for their studies.

Students making use of computers and the internet

Another area used by the public for research

There is a an area designated to Design. It has references to anything to do with design, from fashion to the Built Environment, available to members of the library.

The Design Library

 There are 'Quiet' areas overlooking the Brisbane River, suitable for reading any of the newspapers available to read, not only from all over Australia but also from overseas.

Quiet Rooms

Reference books on just about any subject

A lot of us then joined the Queensland Library while we were there.

The Bl;ogger and I joined the lState Library as well

After the library tour, we attended the keynote address by Professor Roly Sussex in the auditorium of the library. Professor Sussex is an Emeritus professor in linguistics, a very clever and funny man. Very well known for his talks on 612-ABC.

Still in Adelaide

It's freezing in Adelaide. We had heavy rain all through the night. When we woke the rain had stopped but it's still windy and cold. Carol has joined us last night so we decided this morning to visit the nearby Art Gallery of South Australia,to take in some art and to keep warm.

So here are some picture I've taken on our exploration of this fair city. For you art lovers out there, you may or may not recognise some of the artists. I didn't bother writing down names of the exhibits or the artists. Sorry.

On the way we stopped for breakfast, during which we got an iPhone lesson from our daughter.

'..then yo press that button mum.'

Strange fountains outside the Art Gallery

Art Gallery of South Australia

We bumped into the washer woman in the art gallery

 Thie following is a sculpture by a Swiss artist using screws and nails. I do hope he got them wholesale.

Nail sculpture by a Swiss artist

 This one projects two faces onto a screen but the due sculptures themselves look like nothing at all.

Never worked out the purpose of this one.

Not sure but the one below looks like it could be Tony Whatshisface, the budgysmuggler from Canberra

We're going out to dinner tonight at the Balcony. More later.

Adelaide

We're in Adelaide for a few days. We came down here for Diane's Sister-in-law's 80th birthday. Upon arrival here, he heard that the dear lady ended up in Intensive Care in Warrnambool and is unable to make it to Adelaide. But our daughter Carol is, so we'll have another cultural weekend down here.

We had a very pleasant 2 1/2 hour flight on Thursday

Our hotel is right next door to the Adelaide Casino, so on Thursday night we went there for a buffet dinner and dessert.

Maybe I shouldn't have had the ice cream Sundae

This morning, we strolled up to Rundle Mall with a stop for Brunch at the local shopping centre. It is absolutely freezing down here which is weird as a few years ago when we were here it was 45 Deg C. I wonder if they have any 'normal' days down here.

The ever popular Rundle Mall

 The piggies are still in the mall, although they've moved. The pig artwork is called 'A Day Out' by artist  Marguerite Derricourt.

Oliver the pig loves eating oranges

Horatio is looking on

 The Blogger insisted of visiting David Jones in Rundle Mall and I discovered this strange couple having coffee at DJ's cafeteria.

We then walked over a new bridge from North Terrace to the Adelaide Oval. A very pretty walk,

The Intercontinental Hotel where we're staying is next to the casino

The bridge ends up nowhere but over a waterfall

Our daugher Carol arrives tonight to join us. So more tomorrow. Maybe.

Football Fever in Our House

The Blogger and I are avid Football fans. She follows the Brisbane Roar and I am rather partial to English Premier League with my favourite team, 'The Gunners' (Arsenal for the uninitiated).

But every four years this household comes to a virtual standstill for a few weeks during the World Cup. In the cup we follow three teams. Obviously 'The Socceroos' (Australia), and also England but both have been eliminated to make it into the final 16 teams. The Swiss, our third team are hanging on by their fingernails.

Australia was ecstatic after leading 2:1 against the Netherlands for all of 4 minutes, after Tim Cahill scored his second goal with a header. 

Over all, the Socceroos have a higher standing now than the current World Champions, Spain, who have departed Brazil scoreless. How great is that?  

The Socceroos celebrate after their second goal

 The most disappointing result for us was England's loss to Uruguay. Luis Suarez, a Liverpool player served humble pie to Roy Hodgson's England. One could say, he bit the hand that feeds him.

Luis Suarez denies England a win

We record the three matches which are played in the early hours every day, watch match 1 during breakfast and the other two matches sometime during the day.

I'm sad to say that our third team, Switzerland (ranked No 6 in the world according to FIFA), also lost this morning to an excellent French team (ranked No 17),  - 5:2.

Granit Xhaka  scores one of the consolation goals for Switzerland

That now means that if they win against Honduras in their next match, they're through to the next round, if not, they too will be on a plane home. Both the Blogger and I predict that France will advance to either the semi finals or the finals in this year's world cup. They are a formidable team at the moment.

Buildings and Monuments

Our camera club went on a photo shoot into Brisbane recently to capture building and monuments.
I made a little video of it

A Culture Day

We have Peter and Margaret staying with us this week, from the Hunter Valley. We took them into town today to visit the Art Gallery at South Bank. The Blogger and I haven't been there for some years, we usually visit the Gallery of Modern Art next door at least two or three times a year, so this time we were searching for the old masters and some Aboriginal display.

I had an ulterior reason to go there. We're presenting photos of 'People Interacting' at our camera club on Monday and I needed some pics for that. So while the others concentrated on the masters, I concentrated on the visitors instead.

I did however manage to capture a Peter Paul Rubens amongst the old masters

 And captured another Rubenesque woman near the Aboriginal display

The Queensland Art Gallery is in one of the buildings designed by Architect Robin Gibson & Associates at the Brisbane Arts Precinct at South Bank. Well worth a visit if you ever come to Brisbane.

After we got our art fill, we wandered over to the South Bank eateries for a scrumptios lunch.

750 Year Celebration of the Town of Thun in Switzerland

This post is dedicated to a very special town in Switzerland, Thun, and to two very good friends of mine, Roland and Martin. We all went to school together at one time or another, then we played in the high school band together. Both Roland and Martin played the drums and I played the trumpet. Roland still lives in Thun while Martin and I live in Queensland.

The town of Thun in Switzerland with castle and church

Thun is situated at the foot of the alps, on the Lake of Thun. It has wonderful views of the Bernese Alps, especially the Eiger, Mönch and Jungrau, which attract thousands of visitors every year.

Thun with views over the Bernese Alps

So, this year, the town celebrates its 750th Anniversary. It become a town in 1264 and joined the Canton of Berne in 1384.

In 1964, I was still living there and together with my father, took part in the celebratory 700th Anniversary march through town, in the local band, wearing period costumes.

The town band in period costumes in 1964
(I'm playing trumpet centre,  my dad plays french horn behind me)

My mate Roland on drums (centre front)

Roland and me in school

On Wednesday afternoons we had cadet training which involved either sporting activities or rifle training as this shot shows, both Roland and Martin were off to the rifle range for target practice. A German tourist stopped us and wanted to know, why we were carrying guns. After explaining, he wanted to pose with us and got his wife to take a picture.

Roland, Martin and me posing with a German tourist

So, happy birthday Thun, I'll be thinking of you.