Brisbane

We stayed with one of my former school classmates. Jim and Andrea have a daughter who lives near us in Easton, Maryland and we visited them a couple of years ago. Hopefully we will be home when they next visit their daughter so that they can visit us as well.

 

We took the train into the city so that Marianne could do some genealogy research and I could meet one of my old friends.

 

The Brisbane skyline has changed so much over the past thirty years. This is the site of the old Canberra Hotel.

 

The Peoples Palace still stands.

 

The former AMP building. I worked there on two occasions.

 

Apple now has a shop on the ground floor.

 

General Macarthur had his headquarters in the top of the building during WWII.

 

Stairway to the upper floors.

 

Entrance to the former Wintergarden Theatre.

 

Ornate is the word you are looking for. The theatre part has been demolished but at least the entrance has been saved.

 

The former Treasury Building which now houses a casino.

 

Path by the river to the State Library.

 

My old friend Geoff.

 

Luxurious vegetation in our host's garden. Stuff grows quickly in this subtropical climate.

 

Jim and I went for a morning walk. These are flying foxes in mangroves beside a nearby creek.

 

A street of Jacaranda trees in full bloom.

 

The city skyline in a low fog.

 

The jacaranda trees are everywhere in south east Queensland. There is a tradition that a flower is pasted to classroom boards to remind children to start studying for the November exams. 

 

Andrea, Jim and Marianne.