Canberra: The Capital and a Big Mac

This week Alex and I went down to Canberra, the capital of Australia to see the sites, the arts, pay homage to Australia's great capital, and enjoy my first Big Mac....

Okay, before I go into the sites of the capital, I am sure the line that struck the biggest cord with you all was the Big Mac. Let me start by saying that on my last trip to Australia I thought I was going to try McDonalds (or Maca's as it is known out here) because the quality of the beef is much higher than the States as they only use Australian beef. I figured if I was going to eat the stuff I should try the best version but, we never made it around to it. So this time it was something I figured I would finally have to do, and the capital trip provided the perfect opportunity: any time Alex or his family drive down to Canberra they stop at the half-way mark Mcdonalds.

Let me say, the pictures of the Big Mac are quite frightening when you are about to try it for the first time. All my years of vegetarian living I never had a Big Mac, the closest I had was a burger in a happy meal when I was 8 (I was pretty sure that this wasnt the same) and in the pictures it looks MASSIVE. Thankfully for me and my stomach it was quite small. My verdict of the Big Mac was meh, I'd rather have the fries. But I can now better identify with American culture: I too have shared in the Big Mac glory, take that "Super Size Me!"

The rest of the trip was great, we saw the Parliment House, (like our Whitehouse, except no one lives there) the Cosolates (offices and housing for all of the different countries that interact with Australia, each are designed in the traditional syle of that country) and for the arts we went to the Vanity Fair Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. If this exhibition makes it out to the states, I would highly reccomend it; it showcases all of the famous portraits from Vanity Fair from 1910 to present, truly impressive. Although I didnt get a chance to see the War Memorial which is supposed to be one of the best in the world, I feel like I did get a good feel for Canberra, but am happy to be back in Sydney! And definitely no more Big Macs for me!