Perth

Yesterday was my Big Tourist Day before the start of Swancon. I started off looking at a swag of museums. The Art Gallery of Western Australia has some really fantastic stuff in it. (One of the pieces that appealed to me most — who can explain these things? — was Tony Clark's Sections from Myriorama; I do not reproduce it here out of respect for intellectual-property rights.) Next was the Western Australia Museum, where I spurned the AC/DC exhibit to focus on the history and natural history. (Note, by the way, the somewhat melodramatic acrylic drool swinging from the dinosaur's jaws.)



Finally, I went through the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, which I enjoyed very much.

Entry to ALL THREE of these museums was by suggested donation — almost as good as the free museums in DC!

I also walked around the Northbridge neighborhood, which is supposed to be all funky and Newtown/Greenwich-y, but it kind of isn't. Oh well.

Next came a massive perambulation around downtown Perth, during which time I stumbled upon London Court. My photos are below; I note with dismay that they are pretty much identical to the photos on the Wiki page. Why do any of us bother taking photos for ourselves anymore? Anyway, my favorite was the clocktower with jousting knights. I love that sort of thing.




And just to demonstrate once again that Shakespeare follows me everywhere, his coat of arms:



Oh! I almost forgot: there was an emergency-services museum — tiny, but very earnest — in a disused turn-of-the-century firehouse; when they heard I'd been an SES volunteer, they couldn't do enough for me. I found this display particularly gratifying:



Partly out of curiosity, and partly as recon for Easter weekend, I found and explored St. Mary's Cathedral, which, architecturally speaking, is a surreal yet intriguing combination of old and new. I look forward to seeing what they do liturgically.

Finally, an object lesson in how the arts-and-culture community can be at least as invested in bad decisions as the rest of the world. First, here's the Kennedy Center.



Ugly, yeah? Yeah.

And here's the National Library in Canberra.



Uh-huh. Also ugly.

And now, in its own "I want to run with the big dogs" kinda way, the Perth Concert Hall:



Ugly, without the benefit of titanic bulk. (Note to the Universe: this in NO WAY WHATSOEVER is to be taken as indication that I will be churlish or precious should a work of mine ever have the chance to be performed there. No no no no — I will be most humbly grateful. I will. I promise.)