Wellington, whatup!!

I told you all a bit about Wellington the other day, but I will tell you a bit more, just cuz I loved it so much. And really, it was all about the atmosphere. It was small, walkable, lots of parks, gardens and greenery, a beautiful waterfront, lots of sculptures and public art, an alternative/artsy atmosphere, good pedestrian areas, inviting little shops, restaurants and cafes, etc. A great place to be! The Fringe Festival was going on while I was down there and I attended two performances, one that was really impressive. It was a collection of sketches put on by students and graduates from a local university all having to do with grief, death and dying. I laughed AND cried in the performance. I went to the Planetarium show in the botanic gardens, where I learned all sorts of star lore and constellations of the southern sky. There are many constellations here that we never see in the northern hemisphere! The botanic gardens themselves were beautiful to walk through as well. I already told you a bit about those from when Anne and I visited. I also had quite a nice wander through some beautiful neighborhoods on my way to the planetarium, since I decided to go the not-through-downtown route. A good choice! It is very hilly and its quite intersting, because the housing and layout reminds me quite a bit of San Francisco up close, but Bergen (in Norway) from far away. I'm not quite sure how that works. Maybe its because the basic shape of the houses is the tall, rectangular with basic V rooflines (like in Norway), but up close you see all the laticework and fancy windows and porches that are reminiscent of San Francisco. I went for a tour of Parliament as well. That was fun, seeing where the government people do their work and learning about the whole government set-up. Its always fascinating to see how other countries set up their governments. Maybe if our own country could get out of its "we were the first democracy (we weren't) so therefore we're the best" rut, we could actually set up a better functioning government. Well, I can always hope, anyway! I also spent some time in Te Papa, New Zealand's National Museum. I checked out several exhibits. One of the coolest was an exhibit up on the top floor of Maori pottery. The Maori have no tradition of clay work, so this is a new medium, culturally, and these artists have been pioneering the art of clay using traditional Maori concepts and principles. Some very neat work! Sorry this is so scattered. I guess I just enjoyed the experience overall. It is hard to describe in any cohesive fashion, so I'll just stop there and let you imagine that it is 10 times cooler than what I've just told you (cuz it was!).