Canberra is the nation’s capital and sits within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was established in 1908 and located exactly midway between the competing principal cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Australians do not think highly of Canberra, not just because it is full of politicians, but also because they regard it as dull and sterile. Our first impressions suggest that opinion is well founded. The city is laid out according to a carefully conceived plan with lots of concentric circles and intersecting axes, leaving large swaths of dry-looking grass providing pedestrian-unfriendly distances between important pieces of bland architecture.
Upon arrival we walked in the heat along quiet, mostly deserted streets to our hotel, feeling as if we were in a Twilight Zone episode set in a post-apocalyptic future. Then we walked back into the civic center on more remarkably unpeopled sidewalks in a prolonged search for a restaurant that was actually open. In fairness though, it was a Sunday, the parliament is not currently in session and the schools are on summer break. Maybe it is livelier at other times of the year. Or maybe not.
